Is packaging of contraband cell phones important?
A dog is finding cell phone odor - not the cell phone or component itself. Several things dictate odor availability, such as packaging, placement, air currents, and length of time concealed.
-can be packaged in a way that provides less odor available
-can be concealed in a location that does not allow the dog to get close enough to detect the odor, or air currents can push the odor in a direction that does not allow the dog into the scent cone
-can be concealed inside of something for such a short amount of time that odor has not had time to escape the container
All of these factors working together or individually can completely eliminate cell phone odor from being available to the the dog, or can influence how much odor is available.