J. Koreja: klonirani psi u službi policije

psi, klon, droga, policija, traganje

If you think you are seeing double, you are right.

Looking exactly the same, the world's first cloned sniffer dogs reported for work in Seoul's Incheon airport on Monday.

The collective name for the seven cloned puppies is Toppy, which is short for tomorrow's puppy.

Because they look so alike, a scanner is needed to read the microchips embedded in their ears to tell them apart.

The puppies are clones of a male Labrador Retriever named Chase, who retired after working for nine years at the airport as a star sniffer dog.

South Korean customs called on a lab to reproduce Chase, as he was a valuable tool for finding drugs.

The trainers felt the puppies had inherited special qualities from Chase.

(SOUNDBITE) (Korean) TRAINER, CHOI DONG-KWON SAYING:

"They showed much better loyalty and were better at activities than other sniffing dogs when we trained them."

As the work day began, three puppies went to sniff out drugs at the baggage claims, while another three stuck their noses in the customs area.

The seventh puppy was injured during training, but will join the rest once he recovers.

Sophia Soo, Reuters.