A Samoa Customs officer was among nine new detector dog teams who graduated on Thursday after undergoing specialist training in New Zealand.

A Kiwi-trained police detector dog called 'Euro' will also be heading home with the Customs officer to join the operations team in Apia. 

The customs officer in Samoa's Ministry of Customs and Revenue, Taase Vaetoa, was among law enforcement officers from the Tonga Police, Fiji Police, French Polynesia Gendarmerie and French Polynesia Customs who graduated.

They underwent training for nine weeks at the New Zealand Police Dog Training Centre in Trentham, Wellington with the N.Z. Police in a media release issued on Friday saying it valued the regional partnership achieved through the training.

Four New Zealand Customs officers and their dogs also took part in the ceremony formally recognising their graduation as operational teams.

"The valued partnership between New Zealand Police, New Zealand Customs Service and Pacific border and police agencies working together in targeting organised crime was celebrated today [Thursday] with the graduation of nine new detector dog teams," reads the N.Z. Police statement.

Inspector Todd Southall, National Coordinator of New Zealand Police Dogs, said it was a proud day for the graduates.

“It’s a proud day for the graduates and for all of our agencies, highlighting the value we place on working together to protect our borders and our communities,” said Inspector Southall.

Customs Group Manager (Intelligence, Investigations and Enforcement) Terry Brown said the addition of the customs' detector dog teams a valuable asset to their operations.

“Customs’ detector dog teams are a valuable addition to our capabilities in protecting New Zealand’s borders through their training to detect narcotics and cash,” he said.

“While these four teams have now been operational with Customs, based in Auckland and Christchurch, over the past year, it has been wonderful to have them all together to share their graduation.”

Chief Customs Officer, Dave Huff, who works closely with his New Zealand Police counterparts to support border and enforcement capability in the Pacific, added that it is especially significant to share formalities with graduates from the Pacific Detector Dog Programme, and graduates from the separate programme of support to French Polynesia Customs and the Gendarmerie.

“Detector dogs are an additional and vital layer of protection used by enforcement and border agencies both here in Aotearoa New Zealand and our counterpart agencies in the Pacific.

“The N.Z. Police and N.Z. Customs Pacific Detector Dog programme has been running for six years now and we are proud of the close collaboration we share with all of our partner agencies in the region. 

"These international partnerships will enable us to continue the fight against transnational organised crime groups which target our Pacific region."

Inspector Southall said the partnerships are effective at both the operational and strategic level, and New Zealand Police is pleased to support, host and train handlers from the Pacific agencies. New Zealand Police also supplied the dogs from the police detector dog breeding programme.

“It’s been a busy and demanding nine weeks for the handlers but they’ve risen to the challenges, including changeable weather,” he said. 

The course was led by New Zealand Police dog training instructor Sergeant Mike Robinson assisted by Chief Customs officer Dave Huff and Principal Customs Officer Taito Nawai Damuni. New Zealand Police also provided the five dogs, four of whom will be heading offshore to work in the Pacific.

The region's law enforcement officers who did the nine week course included Gendarme Randy Grimadias (French Polynesia Gendarmerie) and Bael; 1st Class Principal Agent Thierry Amaro (French Polynesia Customs) and Crete; Sergeant Mike Robinson (N.Z. Police); Constable Kameli Vaniqi (Fiji Police) and Chief Principal Customs Officer Taito Damuni (Fiji); Constable Uluaki Havea (Tonga Police) and Cricket; and Customs Officer Taase Vaetoa and Euro (Samoa Customs).