A DRUG dog with an expert nose for sniffing out illegal substances helped police on Orkney seize almost £90,000 worth of drugs last year.
During the period 1st April 2020 to 31st March 2021, Orkney Drugs Dog Zoe assisted Police Scotland in the detection and seizure of substantial quantities of illegal drugs - with an estimated street value of almost £90,000.
The drugs and values detected in Orkney consisted of heroin valuing £610, £72,236 of cannabis, £9,430 of cocaine and tablets forms at £6,532.
Zoe, managed by her expert handler, conducts regular searches at the post office, the air and ferry ports and through her assistance with police warrant searches.
READ MORE: Watch the moment rescue helicopter winches injured boy to safety in stormy conditions
Chairman of Orkney Drugs Dog, Andrew Drever said: “We are committed to continue our partnership work with Police Scotland whereby Zoe, our drugs detection dog and her Handler search out illegal drugs coming into, and within, Orkney through regular searches at the Post Office, our Air and Ferry Ports and through assisting with Warrant Searches.”
He added: “As can be seen, there are considerable quantities and types of drugs within our community and with the support of the public, we will continue working towards Keeping Orkney Safe through directly reducing the harm caused by illegal drug misuse, impacting on drug related offending, and bringing positive outcomes for our community."
READ MORE: Heroic police dog Storm tracks suspects in M8 hit and run
An appeal has been made to the public to share any information about illegal drug supply or use within the county, by reporting it directly to Police Scotland using 101, through Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or through the online page Fearless Scotland.
A picture campaign for cracking down on drugs in Orkney reads: "Be warned - if you’re carrying or dealing drugs in Orkney… Her nose knows!"
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here