Federal auditors say canine teams with Customs and Border Protection were not getting the right ongoing education for sniffing out illegal drugs.
The audit by the Homeland Security Inspector General is partly based on trips made to the Nogales and Douglas ports of entry. Also the Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate19. It urges Customs and Border Protection to study how long drugs like fentanyl keep their odor so dog-handlers know when to replace props used for ongoing lessons.
The agency agrees and has promised to do chemical testing to find out the shelf-life for a list of illegal substances.
The audit found that expired drugs were used to train dogs. It warns that an untrained nose could let drugs through. So canine teams should regularly get new training tools.
