Sniffer dogs help curb ganja smuggling in Vellore

The team’s recent raids have led to the seizure of 24 kg of contraband

Sniffer dog Simba, a Labrador retriever at the police detective dog squad in Vellore, has been an asset to the force by helping uncover vital clues at every crime scene. Now, Simba is tracing narcotics, especially ganja, in public transport like mofussil buses, autorickshaws and taxi cabs at border checkpoints.

Between 3 a.m. and 8 a.m. every morning, Simba has been on the job at border checkpoints in Vellore. Already, the dog has helped detect two cases of ganja smuggling in buses, amounting to a seizure of 24 kg of contraband.

“Roping in sniffer dogs saves us time in checking the baggage of every passenger. More importantly, their [sniffer dogs] detection is sharper and accurate,” S. Rajesh Kannan, Superintendent of Police (Vellore), told The Hindu.

On Sunday, Mr. Kannan gave away the certificate of gratitude to sniffer dogs and their handlers for detecting 14 kg of ganja in a bus at the Christianpet checkpost, which borders Chittor, on Saturday.

Simba is handled by head constables M. Gerard Wilson and M. Sasikumar since he moved to the squad when he was two months old, while the other dogs, such as Lucy (nine years), Agni (four years) and newly joined Sara (six months) are taken care by constables J. Elangovan, C. Dhanasekaran and S. Gunraj.

The police said suspects find new ways of smuggling ganja. Of late, they smuggle it in small packets through autorickshaws, bikes and old transport vehicles by hiding them in vegetable consignments.

It took 45 days to train Simba to sniff out ganja from a large pack of mixed items. Apart from routine training and exercise, the animal was allowed to smell the scent of ganja in different forms, concealed in small amounts. Initially, the dog was agitated by the smell of ganja but got used to detecting it in various forms, the police said.