On Wednesday 10th April, in the city of Amiens in northern France, an encounter that could have been the start of a beautiful, fleeting friendship took a very different turn.
When a young man came across a beautiful Malinois, he decided to approach it for a stroke. However, this was no ordinary dog.
A drug detection dog
The Malinois was actually a police dog with the drug squad, and he wasn't about to forget his mission for a quick cuddle. As the young man reached him, the dog \"marked\" him, and the police officers immediately understood that the animal had detected drugs with its keen sense of smell.
A costly cuddle
Laurent Berthuin, communications officer for the Somme national police, told France Bleu Picardie: \"A young man, who seemed perfectly nice, wanted to pet the drug dog. We imagine he mustn't have known it was a drug dog because the dog gave a positive indication on him. So he was subjected to an identity check and a pat-down.\"
Upon inspection, the young man was indeed carrying narcotics, hidden in his socks. In a stroke of very bad luck, he was handed a €150 fine.
Let's hope he doesn't hold too much of a grudge and still keeps his love for our canine friends!
