Police used sniffer dog to trace stolen scrap metal

Police have made roadside swoops and raided scrap yards across east London and Essex hunting international metal thieves using the world’s first sniffer dog trained to detect metals.



Lorries were stopped, while raids were carried out at scrap yards. Officers recovered £4,600 of Thames water cable and 50kg of BT cable during the checks made between May 19 and 23. They targeted “foreign national offenders travelling across borders or through ports” with stolen metals, Scotland Yard confirmed.

The operation by the Met Police and forces throughout the UK was aimed at activities with “direct links to organised crime at home and overseas”. A two-year old black Labrador named Jazz was used, on loan from a security company, the first in the world to be trained to sniff out stolen metal marked with Selecta DNA.



Jazz touches the metal with her nose to identify a target scent, which tips off officers to move in and carry out further searches. “We are determined to make life difficult for thieves and dealers profiting from crime,” Chief Supt Sultan Taylor said. “Metal theft and unlawful metal dealing won’t be tolerated.”