Sniffing out crime: K9 star identifies murder suspect

Dubai A major testified in court Monday how a police dog identified a suspect after sniffing out his shoe that was found at a murder scene.

"One of our well-trained dogs identified the murder suspect after he sniffed out his smell from among five other suspects… the dog was made to sniff the shoe that was seized by Dubai Police and was properly sealed in a special seal for two weeks before the sniffer dog identified the suspect," Major Abdul Salam Al Shamsi, Director of the Dubai Police Canine Department (K-9), told the Dubai Court of First Instance Monday.

The 26-year-old Pakistani suspect, M.M., earlier denied the charge of murdering countryman, J.N., by dousing him with gasoline and setting him on fire.

Assault, without intent to kill

Prosecution records said police confiscated the suspect's shoe at the murder scene. Initially M.M. denied his involvement in the murder but when the dog identified his smell, he was said to have retracted his denial and confessed to assaulting J.N. without intending to kill him.

Major Al Shamsi told Presiding Judge Hamad Abdul Latif Abdul Jawad: "We brought five suspects, including the defendant, and had the dog sniff out the five individuals. The police dog identified M.M. immediately. The signal was that the dog sat down immediately after identifying the murder suspect."

In his statement, the witness told the court there are different ways through which police dogs are trained to identify suspects involved in such cases.

Jealousy

When M.M.'s lawyer asked the witness whether the dog could still identify a suspect if more than one person wore the same shoe, Major Al Shamsi said: "Eventually the dog would identify the smell of the person who was the last to wear the shoe. In this case the shoe was confiscated by the police and properly sealed until the operation was carried out and the dog identified M.M."

Prosecution records said the sniffer dog helped Dubai Police interrogators achieve a tremendous breakthrough in the murder investigation.

Prostitute

According to primary interrogations, the case was almost dismissed. Records cited jealousy as the motive behind the murder. The defendant was said to have visited the victim's girlfriend, a prostitute, wanting to sleep with her.

When she avoided his calls, the defendant discovered she was busy having sex with J.N. Prosecutors said M.M. waited for J.N. to come out of the brothel before soaking him with gasoline and setting him alight.

The trial continues.