One of America’s most valuable assets against fentanyl trafficking on the Mexican border uses his nose to root out illicit drugs, an old-school technique that authorities say is key to stemming the flow of deadly synthetic opioids.
Goose, an enthusiastic Golden Retriever, weaves through a sea of stopped cars on a hot afternoon at the San Diego border crossing, one of the busiest in the world. The crossing is open 24 hours a day and the dogs deal with exhaust fumes, hot pavement and unpredictable work days that can go from routine to tense in a matter of seconds.
Now Goose and his handler, Customs Agent Joseph Arcia, are heading inside to show Reuters how the six-year-old canine can sniff out his training toy among a crowd of pedestrians crossing on foot into the United States, replicating what he and other dogs do every day to detect fentanyl and other contraband.
Goose sits up when he finds the toy planted on a random volunteer crossing the border. Mission accomplished.
Goose is one of 536 dogs trained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to detect drugs, weapons, ammunition, money and passengers concealed at the country’s land border crossings, airports and seaports.
The rise of fentanyl and the related overdose epidemic prompted CBP to take the then-unprecedented step of training dogs to detect it in 2017, a program that has proven crucial to the agency’s efforts.
Despite millions of dollars in technology that allows CBP to scan vehicles and data analytics that help identify potential smugglers, a dog’s sense of smell remains a vital tool for uncovering fentanyl and other narcotics.
Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid that was approved for use as an anesthetic by U.S. authorities in 1968, but the rise in clandestine production and fatal overdoses in the past decade has made it a priority for law enforcement and health professionals.
About 75,000 people will die from synthetic opioid overdoses in 2023, mostly involving fentanyl, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The vast majority of CBP fentanyl seizures occur at legal border crossings in Arizona and California. CBP Office of Field Operations dogs have been involved in the seizure of nearly 65,000 pounds of fentanyl since the program was launched, according to the agency.
Democratic President Joe Biden, who is seeking re-election on Nov. 5, has called on congressional Republicans to increase funding for border security, including anti-fentanyl efforts at border crossings.
CBP officials say the funding could help expand the use of canines, including a pilot program that has trained six dogs to sniff out the chemical “precursors” used to make fentanyl.
At the CBP canine academy in Front Royal, Virginia, customs officers from around the country are paired with their new four-legged companions as part of a four- to six-month process to teach the dogs to search for contraband.
Dogs are trained to detect six substances – marijuana, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, ecstasy and fentanyl – by initially stuffing chew toys with “pseudo-narcotics” that smell like the real thing.
“That toy is all they think about,” explained Donna Sifford, the academy’s director, during an exclusive tour of the facility in mid-June. “When they smell those smells and sit down, all they want to do is play.”
The academy features training areas that simulate what the dogs’ real-life work environments will be like, including an airport baggage screening room, a mailroom conveyor belt and an outdoor parking lot filled with dozens of dusty cars.
The dogs are typically German shepherds, Labrador retrievers, Dutch shepherds and German shorthaired pointers, Sifford said. Goose is one of three golden retrievers in the program.
While other hard drugs can have distinctive odors — heroin sometimes smells like vinegar, for example — fentanyl is typically odorless, at least to humans.
The best technology
Dogs can learn to detect a new scent in an average of three days, Sifford said, but before CBP could begin training them to use fentanyl, the agency needed to develop safety protocols. Handlers carry four doses of the opioid overdose-fighting drug Naloxone — which can also be administered to dogs — at all times, though they haven’t needed to do so yet, he said.
Sifford acknowledges that the work can be challenging for border dogs, who have to deal with seasonally high temperatures, long work days and the stress of navigating traffic, but says the job suits their breeding and temperament.
Dogs have an exponentially stronger sense of smell than humans, with up to 200 times more olfactory receptors, according to a 2022 study published in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Dogs can quickly sweep through vehicle traffic, search suspicious cars and monitor passenger lines. They are especially useful for detecting fentanyl, which can be transported in small quantities in the form of pills or powder.
“They’re like biosensors,” says Michael Gould, a founding member of the NYPD’s canine unit who now works as an expert witness in court cases involving police dogs. “It’s really the best technology available.”
Although CBP fentanyl seizures have increased in recent years, the agency only appears to intercept a small percentage of what enters the country.
A 2022 report on synthetic opioids released by a group of lawmakers, government officials and outside experts estimated that just five metric tons of pure fentanyl would be enough to supply all opioid users in the United States for a year — a fraction of comparable heroin use by weight.
The street price of fentanyl has dropped to $1 a pill or less in some parts of the United States, suggesting an ample supply.
Pete Flores, acting deputy commissioner for CBP, told Reuters his agency does not estimate how much fentanyl or other drugs could cross into the United States undetected, but said the efforts are aimed at disrupting the transit routes and business models used by criminal organizations.
“Every shipment of narcotics, and fentanyl in particular, that we stop saves lives,” Flores said.
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