Tobacco Detection

OPERATIONAL EXPERIENCE THAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE

The UK's Leading Tobacco Detection Dog Service

Stu Phillips K9 provides specialist tobacco detection dog services to Trading Standards, Police, His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs, and other enforcement agencies across the UK.

With more than 25 years of operational experience, our dogs have helped locate millions of pounds worth of illicit cigarettes, hand rolling tobacco, and illegal vaping products concealed within some of the most sophisticated hidden compartments encountered by investigators.

From hidden rooms and false walls to hydraulic floor systems, consumer units, refrigeration units, and purpose-built vehicle concealments, our dogs are trained to locate what human search teams cannot see.

Many of the officers and investigators we work alongside have become highly skilled at recognising criminal concealments because our dogs first showed them where to look. But knowing a concealment might exist is very different from having a dog capable of detecting odour coming from a compartment nobody can see, access, or even suspect is there.

Our tobacco detection dogs continue to be deployed operationally throughout the UK, supporting intelligence-led investigations and helping disrupt the illicit tobacco trade

NATIONALLY RECOGNISED EXCELLENCE

Award-Winning Tobacco Detection Dogs 

The success of our tobacco detection dogs has not only been measured by the millions of pounds worth of illicit tobacco they have helped recover, but also by the national recognition they have received for their contribution to public protection and the fight against organised crime.

In 2019, Scamp was presented with the prestigious Institute’s Hero Award by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) after helping recover more than £6 million worth of illegal tobacco products over a five-year period. The award recognised his outstanding service and the vital role specialist tobacco detection dogs play in supporting Trading Standards investigations. (PDSA)

In 2024, Scamp and Yoyo were each awarded the PDSA Order of Merit, often referred to as the animals’ OBE, for their outstanding devotion to duty and service to society during more than a decade of operational work. The award recognised their exceptional careers working alongside Trading Standards, Police and HM Revenue & Customs in tackling the illicit tobacco trade across the United Kingdom. (PDSA)

Throughout their careers, Scamp and Yoyo conducted more than 1,000 searches every year, locating approximately 40 million illegal cigarettes, 18 tonnes of illicit hand-rolling tobacco, and over £5 million in criminal cash. They searched over 6,600 shops, 400 residential properties, more than 1,000 vehicles and hundreds of storage facilities, making them two of the most successful specialist tobacco detection dogs ever to work in the UK. (PDSA)

Today, that same operational experience and commitment to excellence continues through Stu Phillips K9, providing specialist tobacco detection dog services to Trading Standards, Police, HM Revenue & Customs and enforcement agencies throughout the UK.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN KNOWING AND FINDING

Why Use Tobacco Detection Dogs?

Tobacco detection dogs provide a capability that simply cannot be replicated by human search teams alone.

Over many years of working alongside Trading Standards, Police and His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs, I have seen investigators become exceptionally skilled at recognising the signs of hidden compartments and criminal concealments. In many cases, that knowledge has been developed because my dogs first showed them where to look.

However, knowing that a concealment might exist is very different from having a dog capable of detecting odour coming from a compartment that nobody can see, access, or even suspect is there.

Modern organised crime groups invest significant time and money into creating sophisticated concealments designed to defeat conventional searches. Hidden rooms, false walls, hydraulic floor systems, refrigeration units, consumer units, vehicle modifications and purpose-built storage compartments are becoming increasingly common.

A specialist tobacco detection dog does not search for the concealment itself. The dog searches for the microscopic odour escaping from within it.

Even when tobacco products are heavily wrapped, sealed inside containers, or hidden behind layers of timber, steel or concrete, tiny amounts of odour can still escape. Through careful training and years of operational experience, a well-trained tobacco detection dog can identify these odours and guide investigators towards locations that would otherwise remain undiscovered.

This combination of canine detection and human investigation provides one of the most effective tools available in the fight against the illicit tobacco trade.

FINDING WHAT OTHERS MISS

What Can Tobacco Detection Dogs Find?

Modern illicit tobacco is rarely hidden in obvious places.

Organised crime groups invest significant time and money creating sophisticated concealments designed to defeat conventional search methods. As enforcement agencies become better at identifying these hiding places, criminals continue to develop increasingly complex ways of concealing their products.

Our tobacco detection dogs are trained to locate the odour of illicit tobacco and illegal vaping products, regardless of where they have been hidden.

Operational deployments have led to the discovery of tobacco concealed within:

• Hidden rooms and secret compartments.
• False walls and ceiling voids.
• Hydraulic floor systems.
• Purpose-built vehicle modifications.
• Refrigeration units and freezers.
• Consumer units and electrical cupboards.
• Storage containers and warehouses.
• Commercial premises and retail shops.
• Residential properties.
• Shipping containers and freight vehicles.
• Sewer manholes and underground concealments.

A tobacco detection dog does not search for the concealment itself. The dog searches for the tiny amounts of odour escaping from within it. This allows investigators to focus their attention on areas that would otherwise appear completely ordinary during a conventional search.

Many of the sophisticated concealments discovered during our operational deployments would never have been located without the assistance of a specialist tobacco detection dog.