Viagra dog nose his fakes

A specially trained Viagra-sniffing dog from the Netherlands has been shipped over to Finland to assist in a Customs’ crackdown on counterfeit drugs. Springer, whose highly-sensitive snout is particularly good at picking out narcotics and fake medicines, has been brought in to help sniff through piles of post that could contain knock-offs of the potency drug Viagra.

It is estimated that around EUR 44 million of fake drugs have been purchased by Finns over the internet, with most of the shipments delivered by air mail. ”Consumers believe they receive what they ordered but this is not always the case,” Customs chief inspector Kirsi Taipale told YLE.

Springer, who arrived in the country last week, has a tricky task ahead of him as medicines are far more difficult to detect than illegal drugs, even with a nose like his. “At home Springer is very peaceful and not in the least interested in the smell of medicines. Work is never mixed with pleasure,” Springer’s trainer Nico Neef said.

Most fake drugs are purchased from India, but manufacturers have also been detected working from Austria and the UK. Dozens of illegal packages are seized by Finnish Customs every day, but whether or not dogs like Springer will be recruited in the future will depend on his performance this week.