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MALAYSIA - It's not unusual for those involved in the murky world of organised crime to have their rivals, or even police officers, killed. But the gangsters behind the pirate DVD business in Malaysia have put out an unusual contract - for two police sniffer dogs.
The mobsters have put a bounty on labradors Lucky and Flo, who were instrumental in a major bust in which police seized US$3 million of DVDs and CDs.
The two dogs - who have only just finished their training - are partly funded by the Malaysian Motion Picture Association, which is desperate to stamp out the huge industry in pirate DVDs. The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs enforcement staff have the dogs under heavy security in separate safe houses.
In the CD operation, the dogs were taken to a car park which had been under surveillance for two months, and soon led police to a car which had thousands of pirated DVDs and CDs hidden in the boot. The driver led police to a nearby shopping centre where they found more than one million fake discs.
- INDEPENDENT
