COLOMBIA: Drug-sniffing dog receives increased security after threats from drug traffickers.
- 00:00:11
- ITN Source
COLOMBIA: Drug-sniffing dog receives increased security after threats from drug traffickers.
One of the biggest threats to Colombian drug traffickers - a drug-sniffing police dog named Agata - is under heightened security after receiving several death threats. She's had a price on her head since 2004 and a 24-hour guard monitors her food for poisoning. For a 5-year-old, she has made a lot of enemies. But none of this keeps Agata, a golden Labrador who is one of Colombia's best drug-sniffing dogs, from doing her job. Stationed in the southern Amazon River border town of Leticia, Agata works at the local airport. She is the only Colombian police dog to have a contract put out on her by drug smugglers tired of having their goods confiscated. More than two years ago, police intercepted a message from drug traffickers revealing a plan to poison her. "The security measures for her [Agata] have been reinforced a little more because intelligence informed us that there had been indications that they [drug traffickers] were going to try to poison her, so we reinforced her security here," said Robert Olanda, one of the officers who guards her. Police say a 10,000 U.S. dollar bounty was put on Agata's furry head after a string of detections she made in 2004 in Colombia, the world's biggest cocaine producer. She is one of nearly 700 dogs employed by Colombian national police to detect cocaine, heroine and explosives used by a mosaic of armed groups involved in Colombia's 4-decade-old guerrilla war, in which thousands are killed every year. Trained from puppies, the police dogs form a key part of Colombia's U.S.-backed counter-narcotics program. Leticia is popular among drug smugglers trafficking to neighbouring Brazil and Peru and also north toward the United States, the biggest consumer of Colombian cocaine. But first they have to get past Agata. The 80-pound (36 kilogram) retriever, who energetically investigates about five cargo planes and one passenger flight every day, has helped authorities confiscate 300 kilos of cocaine and 20 kilos of heroin since she started working in 2003. "She is a dog who has been decorated, who has received various important honours because she is one of the most productive dogs in the detection of narcotics here in this airport. Precisely for this reason, the National Police received intelligence some two or three years ago that someone wanted to poison the dog or kill her in some way. We had information that the criminals contracted people to kill the animal," said Colonel Carlos Medina, police commander for the Amazon region. Any harm to Agata would be devastating to the people who know her best, said Olanta. "For me and for everyone, she has played a very important role and plays a very important role in terms of friendship. It is as if a relative of your would die - the loss would be felt. Who wouldn't feel it if everyday you worked with her? I come in at 7 in the morning and leave here at 11 at night, everyday with her. She is my friend everyday," he said. Colombian drug-sniffing dogs work up to seven years in the field and the authorities have already begun planning for Agata's retirement.
ITN Source | January 26, 2007
