Sniffing out Contraband

New research will allow detection without opening containers for inspection

Contributed by Kay Ledbetter, skledbetter@ag.tamu.edu

Shipping containers crisscrossing the world and stopping at ports and borders to enter the U.S. for transport across the nation may soon have to pass the “sniff” test.

Specially trained dogs are at the center of a new project by the Cross-Border Threat Screening and Supply Chain Defense, CBTS, Center of Excellence, working in conjunction with the Center for Conservation Biology and their Conservation Canines program at the University of Washington.

Greg Pompelli, Ph.D., director of the Texas A&M AgriLife-led CBTS, Bryan-College Station, said the problem today is that transnational criminal organizations are capitalizing on the difficulty and expense of detecting containerized contraband once in transit, due to huge increases in the volume of containers shipped worldwide and pressure to keep commerce moving.

This past year, Pompelli said CBTS funded a range of projects, including a two-year project designed by Sam Wasser, Ph.D., director of the Center for Conservation Biology at the University of Washington, to develop a low-cost method using dogs to detect contraband in shipping containers, without breaking customs seals. The dogs are trained to detect the contraband scent in air samples vacuumed from shipping containers.

If successful, this method will allow agents to search containers for contraband ranging from ivory to drugs to timber with minimal disruption to port operations and provide criminal investigators with another tool to fight illegal imports, Pompelli said.

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Detection without breaking customs seals

“Right now, detection programs require the containers to be open to determine if they include contraband,” Pompelli said. “But this project allows an operator to draw an air sample from a container and bring it back to the dog to determine if there is something of concern.”

Heather Manley Lillibridge, Ph.D., CBTS executive director, Bryan-College Station, said the project will soon be entering its second year. Researchers are in the process of testing the accuracy and sensitivity of the dogs in detection rates on various types of contraband. They start ed with smaller containers and are working to scale up to samples from shipping containers.

“We have to determine not only if the dogs are effective, but how can they be generally used or specifically used and what can be accomplished,” Pompelli said. “We know there are a lot of canine units out there already. We know the process has to be credible – if you open the container and there is illegal contraband, that there was probable cause for a legal case that will be built.” A dog handling team from the Center for Conservation Biolorescued from gy at the University of Wash- animal shelters, ington goes through a training Wasser said. The exercise. (Photo courtesy of Sam Wasser, Ph.D.) Conservation Canine Program looks for dogs that have a strong drive to play with a ball, which is used to incentivize and reward detecting targets and reinforce training. Dogs learn to associate detection of target odor with receipt of a ball. They then transfer that skill to detect the target odor vacuumed onto the odor capture material. The dogs for this project were initially trained on sea cucumber and African elephant ivory as the two ends of the spectrum to determine the dogs’ limits of detection using this method. The dogs will move in year two to the detection of high-value and more rare timber species. The science behind the sniff test The idea, Manley Lillibridge said, is not to

Pompelli said a key part of the research try to look at every single container in the port. project is developing an apparatus that draws Ultimately, the vision is to have the targeted air from the outside vents at the top of each knowledge of when contraband may be comshipping container, through a canister contain- ing through the port and then without breaking ing an inexpensive odor-collection material the seal, be able to sample the containers as that captures the contraband scent. they are stacked. After samples are captured,

Manley Lillibridge said in an effort to in- the sealed canisters containing the scent-concrease the efficiency of their sampling devise, taining pads will be taken to a nearby site and Wasser’s team began collaborating with Igor presented in sequence to detection dogs trained Novosselov, Ph.D., a University of Washington to alert to specific contraband scents. aerosol scientist in the Department of Mechanical Engineering who is being funded by anothDisrupting the trafficking of contraband er DHS Center of Excellence – Awareness and Manley Lillibridge said the ultimate goal Localization of Explosives-Related Threats, is not to create a new set of border teams utiALERT. lizing dogs, but to transfer this technology to

The new device mimics how a dog smells existing canine programs worldwide, allowing by stirring the air and uses a vacuum strong for searching containers for contraband with enough to survey a larger cargo container. They minimal disruption to port operations. are using gas chromatography-mass spectrom- “The project is aimed at being another etry to determine how long to draw air from the tool to disrupt the network of trans-criminal orcontainer based on the signal strength captured ganizations that are making a profit on a wide by the apparatus over time. variety of trafficking contraband,” Manley Lillibridge said. “Most important is being able to Training the dogs preserve the chain of custody and follow the

The dogs at the Center for Conservation container to make the legal case further down Biology’s Conservation Canine Program are the road.” uniquely trained and can even detect whale Additionally, she said, part of the vision is scat in the middle of the ocean. to extend the program across the world to pre-

Remarkably, all of the center’s dogs are vent contraband from ever reaching the U.S.