AMK9 Finds – Explosives

K-9 Detection remains one of the most critical resources in explosives detection tactics utilized today.  No man-made device is more effective in accurately locating explosives or explosive residue than a highly trained K-9 Team.  Since 2005, when American K-9 Detection Services, LLC (AMK9) Contract Working Dog (CWD) Teams were first deployed alongside troops in the Middle East, AMK9 CWDs have discovered more than four hundred (400) Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and hundreds more explosive compounds across multiple regions.

Because of their extraordinary sense of smell, canines will positively respond to any surface that has been contaminated by explosive residue, in addition to actual explosives or IEDs.  For this reason, any confirmed positive response has the potential to lead to further investigation, where many times actual explosives are discovered.  AMK9 routinely documents not only IED finds but finds of explosive compounds or materials tainted with explosive residue.

The following photos are examples of important AMK9 CWD Team Finds: 

January 2013: Weapons, ammunition, and detonating device discovered by AMK9 Explosives Detection Dog Team during a routine vehicle inspection outside a Forward Operating Base in Eastern Afghanistan.

December 2012: IED found by an AMK9 Explosives Detection Dog Team in a truck yard in front of a Forward Operating Base in southern Afghanistan.

May, 2012: Device discovered by an AMK9 CWD Team during a walking patrol inside their Forward Operating Base in the southern region of Afghanistan. Device later confirmed to be a training aid used by military forces.

October 2011: IED Discovered on the undercarriage of a fuel truck by an AMK9 CWD Team. The truck was in a line of 146 diesel tankers waiting to enter a U.S. base in Southern Afghanistan.

April, 2010: Homemade Explosive (HME) discovered by an AMK9 CWD Team in Eastern Afghanistan after the canine showed change of behavior toward the hard packed dirt while on foot patrol. The canine followed the scent to a hole in a nearby wall where Detonation Cord had been hidden, leading to the buried HME.