Spaniels Dixie and Daisy will be helping to sniff out illicit cigarette and tobacco traders across the Falkirk area today.

The dogs, along with their handler Bobby Crainey, will join Falkirk Council’s trading standard officers who are leading a joint operation supported by Police Scotland and HMRC to clamp down on the practice.

Dixie (pictured above) and Daisy will be out and about the Falkirk area visiting local shops and using their heightened power of smell, able to track down dangerous tobacco that can contain harmful chemicals as well as illegal pyrotechnics.

It’s not the first time Dixie and Daisy have visited with their previous two operations in Falkirk resulting in more than £1400 worth of evaded duty discovered in December 2018 and January 2019.

Trading Standards Officer Ewan McCormack explained: “We’re leading this operation with support from colleagues all involved but it is really Dixie and Daisy who do the actual real work of finding the goods.

“They will explore every nook and cranny of the area he is searching and their reward when they locate the cigarettes is to play with their favourite tennis balls."

Dixie and Daisy travel throughout Scotland working with Trading Standards Officers removing illicit tobacco from sale.