MOSCOW, April 5 (AVN) - Russian sniffer dogs are extremely helpful in combating crime, terrorism, criminal explosions, illegal turnover of arms, drugs and explosive devices, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry said on Thursday.
Sniffer dogs helped detect 57,400 crimes last year, which is a 19-percent growth against 1999, the spokesman told the Military News Agency. Among the detected crimes are 41,615 grave and very grave offence (a 14 percent growth), 1,207 murders and murder attempts (a 14 percent growth), 3,356 robberies (a 23-percent growth), 1,230 offences related to illegal arms, ammo or explosives turnover (a 25-percent growth), and 12,742 crimes related to drug turnover (a 48-percent growth).
In Chechnya alone sniffer dogs exposed 1,548 pieces of rifled firearms, 102 grenade launchers, 2,378 anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, 1,240 landmines and home-made explosive devices, 1,695 shells, 885kg of explosives and 337kg of drugs in 2000.