Pembrokeshire dogs sniff out thousands of illegal cigarettes

Bran found a secret tunnel containing hundreds of thousands of smuggled cigarettes and pouches of tobacco

Two crime-fighting canines have helped police seize hundreds of thousands of illegal cigarettes and tobacco from shops in the UK.

A total of 242,500 illicit cigarettes and 1,516 pouches of tobacco were found in eight shops in Gravesend, Kent, between 3 and 4 April.

Cocker spaniels Bran and Yoyo, from Pembrokeshire, helped sniff out the stash worth an estimated £76,000.

Their owner said the operation would not have been successful without them.

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Bran and Yoyo helped police to seize illicit cigarettes and pouches of tobacco pouches worth around £76,000

Bran sniffed out more than half of the cigarettes found during Operation Puggle behind a secret tunnel and some tiling in a basement.

On day two, his pal Yoyo gave the indication there was tobacco inside a chute behind a counter shop and in a room in a block of flats.

Three more of Stuart Phillips' detective dogs - Cooper, Maggie and Griff - from B.W.Y Canine in Llandissilio, took part in the multi-agency operation.

The dogs assisted an investigation by Kent Police and Trading Standards

"Without the dogs, there would have been no results, the dogs were the major players in this two-day operation," he said.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, during the operation illegal vapes were also seized and fines were issued for immigration offences.