K9 Squads Sniffing Out Drug Peddlers and Hideouts

HYDERABAD: Constables Jenny, Max and Nelson along with their colleagues from the K9 squad conducted searches at pubs, bars and places that were hosting New Year parties to sniff for drugs.

Accompanied by their handlers, these canines joined the police teams deployed to search possible locations of drug abuse, including in malls and function halls.

Officials said that the canines are specially trained and can detect all forms of synthetic drugs like heroin, cocaine and MDMA even if the quantity was less than one gram, and ganja.

They were used in searches for the first time three weeks back after Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy called for a crackdown on peddlers and at all possible locations.

The Integrated Intelligence Training Academy (IITA) at Moinabad trains canines in various disciplines like tracking, sniffing explosives and narcotics and tackling assaults. 

Currently, there are around 40 canines with Telangana police that are specialised in sniffing narcotic drugs. They are deployed with different police units, the city security wing (CSW) and intelligence security wing (ISW) apart from elite wings like Greyhounds and Octopus. 

Their eight-month rigorous training schedule includes getting acquainted with their handlers in the first two months, followed by two months of learning to follow commands from their handlers while in the last four months they will be trained to identify, track and sniff out peddlers and locations.