A woman who was caught trying to board a flight to Maningrida yesterday with drugs in her bag was arrested at Darwin Airport thanks to a Drug Detection Dog.

Acting Sergeant David Young from the Dog Operations Unit said Drug Detection Dog Viper provided a positive indication to a pink bag in the possession of a 41-year-old female.

“A search of the bag was conducted revealing two taped packages of cannabis secreted inside a 1kg container of washing powder, one taped package of cannabis hidden inside a talcum powder container and one taped package of cannabis hidden inside a cola can.

“A total of 190.65 grams of cannabis was located concealed inside in the woman’s bag, which was headed to the Maningrida community.

“This was high quality concealment method used and the alleged offender had gone to a lot of trouble to try and hide and disguise the smell the drugs, but Drug Dog Viper had no trouble in finding them.

“Our Drug Detection Dogs can detect a wide variety of drugs, concealed in many different ways. What people seem to forget is that a dog’s nose is 250 times stronger than that of a human. They smell things we do not.

“NT Police are committed to keeping people safe and preventing drugs from entering our communities, so random searches such as this will continue on a regular basis,” said Acting Sergeant Young.

The woman will be summonsed for the possession of a trafficable quantity of cannabis.