India, Sept. 27 -- When Ovi stopped by a wheeled luggage at Pune airport in August 2026 and signalled her handler, customs officials knew she had sniffed trouble. Inside the luggage's specially created compartment was 3.028 kg hydroponic cannabis worth around Rs.1.8 crore. The packets were vacuum-sealed and carefully stashed in the luggage, which had arrived from Bangkok, purportedly to prevent the odour from escaping. But it did not elude Ovi's olfactory receptors.

The Labrador is one of five siblings trained by the customs department as detector dogs, and employed across the country in customs formations.

Born in December 2020 near the Attari border, Punjab, to Coco - also a detector dog -- the five have since been separated by many m...