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Customs dog sniffs out €1.2 million in cash at Düsseldorf Airport

DPA/The Local
DPA/The Local - [email protected]
Customs dog sniffs out €1.2 million in cash at Düsseldorf Airport
Luke the sniffer dog patrolling Düsseldorf Airport. Photo: DPA

A sniffer dog named Luke has tracked down huge bundles of cash from passengers at Düsseldorf Airport in the last six months.

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The three-year-old German shepherd is the only cash sniffer dog in Germany who is trained to work with humans at airport security, authorities say.

In the last six months since Luke took up his investigations role, he has sniffed out €1.2 million in cash from 21 passengers at the air hub in North-Rhine Westphalia. Luke is specially trained to raise the alarm when he believes someone is carrying big bundles of cash in their suitcase.

SEE ALSO: Man tries to fly from Düsseldorf Airport with €870,000 in cash

It's against the law to pass through Customs with €10,000 or more in cash without declaring it.

According to his trainers, Luke seeks out the cash because he can smell the combination of the printing inks and the paper of the banknotes.

"Every currency smells different," says dog handler Sabine Mohren. Luke is trained to pick up the scent of euros, US dollars, British pounds and Turkish lira.

Customs dog Luke and dog handler Sabine Mohren at work at Düsseldorf Airport. Photo: DPA

According to EU laws in place since 2007, if passengers enter or leave the EU with €10,000 or more in cash, they must declare it and its origins to Customs.

These regulations are in place to help investigators detect any illegal activity involving high volumes of cash, such as drug trafficking or money laundering.

Cash stuffed between books

Last November, Düsseldorf Airport hit the headlines when a man tried to board a plane carrying almost €870,000 in cash.

On November 10th, police officers at the airport noticed a suitcase with 10 cash packages which were stuffed between books, reported the Customs Investigation Office based in Essen.

The suitcase was owned by a 26-year-old Frenchman, who was planning to travel from Düsseldorf via Russia to China.

Authorities initiated administrative offence proceedings against the man for failure to declare cash on departure. The source of the cash was also being investigated.

Vocabulary

Sniffer dog/tracker dog - (der) Spürhund

Cash - (das) Bargeld

To sniff/sniff out- erschnüffelt

Printing ink - (die) Druckfarbe

We're aiming to help our readers improve their German by translating vocabulary from some of our news stories. Did you find this article useful? Do you have any suggestions? Let us know.

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