He's thousands of miles from home in the bleak South Atlantic winter but Leo the RAF dog is the toast of the Falklands after sniffing out the biggest haul of illegal drugs ever found on the islands.

The golden retriever usually calls RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire home but has been seconded to the Falklands for the past few weeks with his handler Corporal Kev Carver.

He is the newest recruit to the military operations on the island, but has quickly made his mark, busting a drug smuggling operation and landing £1 million worth of cocaine.

The bust happened when a boat registered in the Falkland Islands was sniffed out on a routine check off the capital Stanley. Leo boarded the fishing vessel Venturer and quickly found some drugs.

A court in Stanley heard that the cocaine was initially detected by Leo in the cabin and sleeping area of 41-year-old Rogelio Curras, and a further search revealed 29 packets of the substance under the bunk of another fisherman, Jesus Martinez, 26.

Carbullo pleaded guilty to the drug smuggling charge, while Curras had his case adjourned. The court heard the men picked up the cocaine, worth £1m on the streets, at a brothel in Montevideo, Uruguay, and were being paid 20,000 euro to take it to Spain.

But the pair had not counted on Leo's power of detection when they decided to call in at the Falklands on the way, and now they are facing years in jail.

Corporal Carver said he was delighted Leo had done his job.

"We work quite closely with the Royal Falkland Island police customs and immigration department as part of our usual routine and I was really glad to be able to help out and to show everyone how good our training is and how effective we can be," he said.

"Leo is a great dog who I have worked and trained with now for 18 months.

"We just do our job every day, but it makes it a bit special to be able to take part in a find like this, and intercept these drugs."

The pair were brought together at RAF Lyneham last year, and were transferred to the Falklands in September. Within weeks of arriving, the four-year-old super sleuth sniffed out a significant quantity of cannabis within the crew quarters on board another fishing vessel on September 25, before netting his biggest find more than a month later.

Since the find, Leo has become a celebrity on the island. He was recently awarded a Commander's certificate of merit for his efforts.

The Commander of British Forces in the South Atlantic Islands, Air Commodore Gordon Moulds, presented him with the award, and said: "Air Dog Leo and his handler Corporal Carver played a pivotal role in this outstanding joint operation, which resulted in the seizure of cocaine valued at more than £1m.

"This marks the team's second live find in the Falklands and is testimony to the first-rate training conducted at the defence animal centre and highlights the effectiveness of the special search teams."