Dubai Customs & Dubai Police conduct canine care benchmarking exercise

As part of efforts to reinforce synergies with strategic partners, Dubai Customs’ Technical Support Department - Special Units Team held a benchmarking session with Dubai Police’s K9 Unit. The session aimed to share experiences and knowledge and learn about best practices in the area of veterinary care for Customs sniffer dogs.

The benchmark visit was attended on behalf of Dubai Customs by Majid Al Zarouni, Special Units manger; Ahmed bin Ghalaita, head of Customs K9 Team; Nashwan Mohammad, Customs dogs handler; and Mohammad Abdullah, Customs dogs mentor. The delegation team from Dubai Police K9 Unit comprised Captain Mohammad Sultan, Corporal Abdullah Hamdan, Dr. Maryam Al Khatri, and Dr. Maryam Al Shaibani.

The visiting delegation were briefed on the Customs K9 facility in Warsan, an integrated building that meets international standards for canine barns management and infrastructure. The cutting-edge facility shows the K9 unit’s readiness to provide full-capacity support to divers Customs inspection operations. 

The benchmarking exercise included a field tour to see the readiness of the K9 facility, including the dog barns infrastructure and other aspects of canine veterinary care, grooming, training, socialisation, nutrition and more. The Customs sniffer dogs are regularly trained on the latest inspection methods and techniques to detect drugs, explosives and other illegal imports.

At the end of the visit, the Dubai Police K9 team commended the development efforts undertaken by Dubai Customs to enhance Customs inspection capabilities.