Windhoek — SEVERAL drug-sniffing dogs have been acquired to do duty at border posts, it was announced to the delight of cheering Members of Parliament in the National Assembly yesterday.

They were impressed when Deputy Finance Minister Tjekero Tweya said the expensive dogs had even undergone "specialist training" at the Police training centre for three months.

Tweya made the announcement while introducing his Ministry's budget vote.

"The Ministry plans to acquire more sniffer dogs in the future," Tweya said.

He said the new dogs started their careers in the Customs and Excise department during the Easter weekend, when they did duty at roadblocks and at the Noordoewer and Ariamsvlei border posts.

About two years ago, several MPs serving on the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Accounts were dismayed to hear that there were no sniffer dogs on duty at border posts, and especially at the Hosea Kutako International Airport.

The sad state of affairs was attributed to the fact that the two dogs working at the airport had died of old age and there was no money to replace them.