US sniffer dogs debut in Manila anti-piracy raid

The canine versions of Starsky and Hutch have arrived in Manila, where they sniffed through locked steel doors, pointing authorities to stacks of pirated movies during a mall raid.

Fresh from a successful one-month stint in Malaysia, where they angered movie pirates by helping authorities uncover 1.3 million discs and burners worth about $3.3 million, Lucky and Flo are now training their noses on the Philippines.

Nervous stall owners scurried away or locked themselves behind steel shutters when the two Labradors, trained in Ireland to detect optical discs, led government agents and representatives of the Motion Picture Association (MPA) -International through the Makati Cinema Square mall.

The two female dogs – wearing neon vests stamped with their names – sniffed through glass cabinets, bags and boxes. The pirated discs they found included recent releases such as "300" as well as "Borat" and "Apocalypto."

In the first hour alone, Edu Manzano, chairman of the Optical Media Board, said they seized at least 300,000 pirated discs and arrested 11 people. They face charges of copyright infringement and violation of anti-pornography laws.

Neil Gane, MPA-International senior director of operations, said movie pirates in Malaysia have reportedly offered a $14,286 bounty on each of the dogs, whose weekend arrival in Manila was kept secret until Monday’s raid.

He said he hopes Lucky and Flo – reportedly the only two dogs in the world trained to sit or freeze when they sniff polycarbonate, used to manufacture optical discs – would escape such wrath in the Philippines.

"Lucky and Flo will be here for a considerable amount of time and we will be going all over Manila, and we are also contemplating going all over the Philippines," Manzano said.

"As you can see, the dogs have been very, very effective."

Manzano thanked the MPA for bringing the sniffer dogs to confiscate not only pirated copies of Hollywood movies, but also child pornography and Filipino, Korean and Japanese films.

Gane said an MPA survey last year showed its member companies lost $1.2 billion to pirates in the Asia-Pacific region, and $6.1 billion globally.

Holding several discs and pointing to similar logos on their plastic covers, Gane decried that makers of pirated "Cinderella III" discs are the same ones churning out child porn.

Manzano said his office is considering putting up its own canine unit because of Lucky and Flo’s success.

"They are the Starsky and Hutch of the Motion Picture Association," said the dogs’ trainer, David Mayberry, a Northern Ireland senior investigator of the Federation Against Copyright Theft.

TV’s favorite pair of buddy cops, "Starsky and Hutch" starred in the 1970s on US television and in a recent Hollywood film. – AP