Malaysian authorities said yesterday they hoped two specially trained dogs would help police sniff out pirated DVDs.

The two male Labrador retrievers from Northern Ireland, Paddy and Manny, are trained to smell chemicals used in DVD production.

They will become the world’s first permanent national anti-piracy canine unit when they go into action next month, according to Malaysia’s Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs.

“We hope to fight piracy more effectively,” said Mohamad Roslan Mahayuddin, the ministry’s enforcement director.

Malaysia decided to establish a dedicated DVD-sniffing squad after a visit last year from a traveling canine sniffer team on loan from the United States Motion Picture Association.

The dogs helped authorities unearth 1.6 million pirated DVDs and other optical discs and equipment worth US$6 million over six months, Mohamad Roslan said.

Paddy and Manny were donated by the Motion Picture Association of America.

They arrived on February 18 and were still adjusting to their new handlers and the tropical weather, Mohamad Roslan said, adding that the dogs would likely start their work in April.

Paddy, a two-year-old black Labrador, was from an animal shelter that rescued him from abuse. Manny, a pale-yellow one-year-old, came from a dog breeder in northern Ireland.

The dogs are trained to sniff out a chemical used in disc production, but they cannot distinguish between real and the pirated DVDs.

What they can do is to point officers in their raids to hidden caches of discs.

Mohamad Roslan said authorities were taking steps to ensure their safety from angry smugglers.

Movie pirates reportedly placed a bounty of US$29,000 on the heads of the previous team of DVD-sniffing dogs, Lucky and Flo.

Mike Ellis, Asia-Pacific director of the MPAA, said the association spent less than US$24,000 to buy and train Paddy and Manny.

Source: Shanghai Daily