GUWAHATI, July 4 - For the first time, the Assam Police has roped in a batch of exclusively-trained narcotic sniffer dogs to add muscle to its operation against drug trade and abuse.
Despite being rated as a transit point for drug dealing, Assam never had a single narcotic sniffer dog in its disposal.
The State has, of late, witnessed a surge in the incidents related to drug abuse. �A batch of five narcotic sniffer dogs was received by the CID a few days back after being trained in the National Centre for Training of Dogs (NCTD) run by the Border Security Force (BSF),� said Superintendent of Police (CID) PK Nath while talking to The Assam Tribune.
Nath said these dogs have been exclusively trained to sniff out narcotics of almost all kinds and would come very handy while inspecting airports, railway stations and other public places of importance. The new batch of canines, according to the CID, would be dispersed among various police ranges to assist the police in patrolling.
�The CID has received a batch of 10 dogs of which five are exclusively trained on narcotic detection. The remaining five are tracker dogs. We are waiting for five more dogs which are currently undergoing training,� Nath said.
Further, the CID has proposed for induction of rescue dogs which could be employed to sniff out humans stuck in the rubble in the aftermath of a disaster.
�There are three categories of sniffer dogs including those trained in detection of explosives and narcotics. The third category is the rescue dogs which are pressed into action worldwide during disaster like earthquake to sniff out humans from beneath the debris,� another senior Assam Police official told this reporter.
�The procurement process of rescue dogs is in a proposal stage now,� said the official.
