Vizag likely to have more K9 squads soon to add teeth to ganja crackdown

Vizag police join forces to raise more dog squads for narcotics detection. Stakeholders, incl. RPF, APSRTC, GRP, DRI, Visakhapatnam Port & Airport, plan to raise their own dog squads. VCP has 2 categories for tracking & bomb detection. Dogs need 9 mths of training. #K9Squad #GanjaSmuggling

The city police and stakeholders, whose common objective is to prevent ganja smuggling via Visakhapatnam to various parts of the country, are joining forces to raise more dog squads for narcotics detection.

These stakeholders include Railway Protection Force, APSRTC, Government Railway Police, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Visakhapatnam Port and Visakhapatnam Airport

Currently, only the Vizag Commissionerate of Police (VCP) has trained dogs, branded as ‘K9 dog squad’, for narcotics detection. Since these dogs are not enough to cover the entire city, the stakeholders are planning to raise their own dog squads.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Armed Reserve) K. Subrahmanyam told The Hindu that they currently have two trained dogs for narcotics detection. “Many other stakeholders, such as the RTC, do not have such dogs. If they had, it would be easier for all of us to prevent ganja smuggling. It was brought up for discussion during a meeting chaired by Commissioner of Police A. Ravi Shankar.”

A dog needs at least nine months of training. The State police department has its own dog training centre in Vijayawada. “A dog’s sense of smell is 40 times stronger than that of a human being... For every 20 minutes of work, a dog is given 10 minutes of rest. Labrador is the ideal breed as it is sensitive and disciplined, followed by the German Shepherd,” says another officer of the Armed Reserve.

Some of the ‘K9’ squad dogs of the city police are Gracy, Martin, Rio, Johnny, Rocky, Yodha, Blacky, Brutus, Bittu, Caesar, Lucky, Ruby and Jocky. Ruby is the only dog of German Shepherd breed whereas Jocky and Caesar are of Doberman breed; all other dogs are of Labrador breed.

According to an official seeking anonymity, Koraput in Odisha and its surrounding areas are the main hub for smugglers to purchase ganja. They use the road and rail networks of Alluri Sitarama Raju and Visakhapatnam districts to transport the contraband to different parts of the country. “As such, the RTC and the Railways must have narcotics dogs at bus and railway stations.”