Drugs valued at about £6 million were also found during the same period, including 30kg of heroin and 52kg of cocaine. Five million cigarettes being smuggled in to evade customs duty were also detected by the sniffer dog teams.
Finds by other dogs included £56,000 of undeclared cash in the hand luggage of a man flying from Gatwick to the Albanian capital Tirana.
He claimed to have won the money, which was sniffed out by a Border Force labrador called Buster, in the National Lottery but was unable to provide proof. The cash was seized as a result.
But Jessie’s achievements have been particularly striking, with her handler, Border Force officer Catherine Jurczenko, saying that she had “exceeded all expectations”. Sky more