HUNDREDS of thousands of pounds of illegal substances have been sniffed out by Pembrokeshire pooches in the past 12 months.

The dogs belong to Stuart Phillips of Llandissilio, a former MOD dog handler who spent 11 years stationed with the 14th Signal Regiment at Brawdy.

After leaving the MOD in 2009, Stuart set up B.W.Y CANINE and has been busy working with detection dogs, some of which are from rescue centres, training them to find items such as drugs, guns, explosives, illegal tobacco and bank notes.

“The year 2015 has been our busiest year to date,” said Stuart.

“In the past 12 months we have worked with 24 police services, more than 60 local authority Trading Standards teams, UK Immigration officers, HM Revenue and Customs and several mental health NHS trusts.

"Not a bad year for a small Pembrokeshire company”.

Stuart and his detection dogs have been involved in more than 180 operations and his dogs have sniffed out several firearms and other weapons, more than £30,000 of illegal drugs, £164,000 in cash and more than £2million worth of illegal tobacco.

Some of the successes of 2015 saw sniffer dog Phoebe help Trading Standards Officers in Eastbourne to identify a vehicle which was carrying £25,000 of illegal tobacco.

In September tobacco detection dog Scamp sniffed out more than £150,000 of illegal tobacco in Wolverhampton during a large multi-agency operation.

Also in September, Yoyo found more than £200,000 of illegal tobacco products during an operation with Humberside Police and North East Lincolnshire Trading Standards.

Stuart also revealed that Pembrokeshire played host to officers from Interpol and Europol in 2015. Phoebe, Scamp and Yoyo were put through their paces at a number of locations throughout the county, watched over by Interpol’s director for trafficking of illicit goods.

“They could have visited any search dog company in the world, but they decided to visit us”, said Stuart.

In addition to all of the enforcement work that B.W.Y CANINE carried out in 2015, they launched a mobile unit to help educate people about the dangers of illegal tobacco.

“The unit is the only unit of its kind in the UK and we visit town and city centres with it to inform children, young people and adults about all of the issues that surround illegal tobacco products,” explained Stuart.

“The mobile unit had a very busy first year and we are already booked up for a number of months in 2016.”

Stuart and his canine colleagues have also been busy visiting schools and colleges across Wales and England as part of the K9 Drug Awareness project. The project is sponsored and supported by Carmarthenshire-based dog food company, Burns Pet Nutrition.

2016 looks set to be another exciting year for Stuart, who looks forward to taking on new sniffer dogs and develop his company further.