Sniffer dogs under guard

[skippy]

Movie pirates want sniffer dogs Lucky and Flo whacked

March 22, 2007 - 3:33PM

Malaysian movie pirates have reportedly put a bounty on the heads of two sniffer dogs who busted a fake DVD ring with a seizure of discs worth about $3 million.

Lucky and Flo, two female black Labradors deployed by Malaysian authorities in their crackdown on pirated movie DVDs and music CDs, carried out their first major successful operation in Johor state on Tuesday.

The New Straits Times said syndicate bosses had offered an unspecified reward for the killing of the two dogs.

"As a result of the extent of loss to the pirate syndicate, we have information from the domestic trade ministry that the Johor syndicate is intent on killing Lucky and Flo," said Neil Gane, an official of the Motion Picture Association.

"The Malaysian authorities are taking this threat seriously and the security around the dogs' current location has been beefed up," he said.

In Tuesday's raid, the two dogs helped seize a cache of around a million pirated game and movie discs in the southern city of Johor Baru, neighbouring Singapore. At least six people were arrested.

The fake DVDs, replicating machines and other tools used to make and sell discs were hidden in concealed spaces and secret compartments spread over four floors of an office building.

Malaysia, which figures on a U.S. watchlist on piracy, has dramatically stepped up efforts to rein in copyright pirates as it negotiates a free-trade pact with the United States.

The dogs are being given a month's trial by Malaysian officials in a joint effort with the Motion Picture Association, which groups six major Hollywood film companies.

The dogs are trained to sit down when they smell plastic. Until now, the animals have been used mainly to check containers in cargo hangars.