Roasted pig in luggage found by CBP beagle at Atlanta airport

Hardy, a beagle with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, sniffed a roasted pig at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Thursday.  (U.S. Customs and Border Protection )

A roasted pig was discovered by a beagle from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s K-9 unit on Thursday at Atlanta’s airport, reports said.

Hardy, an upstanding member of the “Beagle Brigade,” smelled the cooked pig in the luggage of a traveler from Ecuador at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.

“Our best defense against destructive pests and animal diseases is to prevent the entry of prohibited agriculture products from entering the United States,” Carey Davis, a CBP official told the station. "This seizure at ATL illustrates the tremendous expertise of our four-legged K-9 partners in protecting the United States."

Agents seized and destroyed the nearly 2-pound pig, the report said.

Hardy is a rescue beagle who joined the CPB after training at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Detectors Dog Training Center in Georgia, Fox 5 reported.

Since 2015, the 6-year-old beagle has worked at Atlanta’s airport, which customs agents said is the world’s busiest, the Miami Herald reported.

Hardy, a CPB beagle, found a roasted pig at an Atlanta airport on Thursday. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)

The U.S. prohibits pork and other pork products from other continents to prevent diseases such as foot and mouth disease and swine fever, according to Fox 5.

Travelers are also supposed to declare and present for inspection of any fruit, vegetable and food products to the CBP, according to The Atlanta Journal Constitution.