Brazilian drug lords have issued a "death order" on a sniffer dog called Boss, after he helped find 400kg of cannabis hidden in a wall in a Rio de Janeiro slum, reports The Telegraph
Boss, a five-year-old Labrador, is the most successful of the Rio Police's narcotics squad's 68 sniffer dogs and attempts to outfox him, such as stashing drugs next to open sewers, have failed to flummox his keen sense of smell.
Police patrolling in the volatile Manguinhos slum intercepted communications instructing drug gang members to "target brownie", a reference to Boss's colouring.
According to The Sun, Major Vitor Valle of Rio Police's narcotics division told local media: "Since 1955, when the dog squad was first formed, have we never had a case like this. We haven't even had a dog injured during police operations.
"He's become a target because of the amount of the traffickers' drugs he's helped seize.
"We see this as a normal situation. Every one of us is at risk who are working against drugs trafficking."
Security around Boss has been increased in response to the threat.