The Paris Hiltons of the world think nothing of carrying a pampered pooch about in their handbags, but I’ll bet they take their dogs out when they fly! Not so one Romanian traveler, who smuggled a Chihuahua in his hand luggage recently.
The pup made the journey from Bulgaria to Madrid before being detected in Dublin. Customs officers were shocked to find the outline of the tiny dog on the X-ray scanner.
“Customs officers asked him to put it though the scanner. They’re always very alert. They saw something and decided it should be scanned,” explained a revenue spokesperson. “When customs officers examined the luggage the image of a dog in a small cage appeared on the X-ray screen.”
The dog has been handed over to the Department of Agriculture and Food, where he will stay for some time. Animals imported into Ireland without EU pet passports must be quarantined for at least six months. The dog’s owner isn’t likely to escape unscathed either, with a file being prepared for the DPP about the offense.
