Man's best friend sniffs out pirated DVDs

HARD AT WORK: Lucky is one of the two dogs who can sniff out pirated DVDs.

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Keywords: Piracy, CDs

Mexico:Pirated discs are abundant in Mexico which has over 50,000 illegal selling outlets making it difficult to crackdown on the racket. But now the Mexican Police is using dogs to sniff out pirated DVDs.

The method is as low tech as it gets and Lucky and Flo are the two dogs with a nose for pirated discs.

Gen Dir, Anti Piracy Cell Jamie Campos says, "These dogs are a real help and for the first time, dogs can identify polycarbonate, which is the material used to make DVDs and CDs. It's a huge advantage, which competent authorities can make good use of, especially on country borders."

Although, the dogs cannot actually distinguish between fake or real discs, their strength lies in detecting hidden warehouses and on customs.

In accompanying a recent warehouse raid, the dogs certainly did strike lucky as they facilitated the arrest of 26 people and seizures worth over $6 million. The Malaysian government was so impressed with these dogs that they decided to set up their own canine unit.

World Wide Anti-Piracy Ops John G. Malcolm says, "Well we are always looking to work with law enforcement authorities in Mexico in order to improve the effectiveness of our joint fight against piracy and if they are interested in establishing a canine unit, we would be happy to talk to them about that."

Lucky and Flo are so successful that, CD counterfeiters have put a $29,000 bounty on their heads. Perhaps it is Lucky and Flo who now need police protection.