Image for representational purpose only. (Photo| EPS)
Image for representational purpose only. (Photo| EPS)

As polls approach, canine cops to sniff out alcohol smugglers in Bihar 

Twenty sniffer dogs have been inducted and assigned to ‘critical’ districts to be employed for raids at suspect locations to flush out liquor.

PATNA: With the election dates announced, authorities in Bihar have already engaged trained liquor sniffer dogs to prevent smuggling in the state.Twenty sniffer dogs have been inducted and assigned to ‘critical’ districts to be employed for raids at suspect locations to flush out liquor.

The possibility of liquor smuggling from Haryana, Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Nepal and Jharkhand heightens during the campaign period and the sniffer dogs will be posted at critical highway points and in districts where the biggest seizures have been reported.

The need to raise a squad of such specially-trained canines was felt after the state police and the excise department stumbled upon a number of intriguing cases of liquor smuggled in tubes and within bodies of heavy vehicles, gas-cylinders, drums, milk vans, ambulances, petrol-tankers and others. Police has also had to work round the clock to detect hidden tanks built into SUVs and truck bodies. To sniffer dogs have trained for nine months at the Hyderabad-based Integrated Intelligence Training Academy. The Crime Investigation Department (CID) has assigned them for poll duty with 4 liquor sniffer dogs each at Patna and Muzaffarpur, 2 each in Gaya, Munger, Bhagalpur, and Darbhanga districts and 1 each to Rohtas and Purnia.

CID additional director general (ADG) of police Vinay Kumar said: “Bihar is now the first state to raise a special dog squad to detect camouflaged liquor. Each trained dog cost `1.71 lakh. The CID has deputed two cops as handlers of each dog, which will be used in raids. Their capabilities will be well and fully tested during polls,” he added.

At present, Bihar has a 68 sniffer-dog squad for crime detection against the sanctioned strength of 200. Some 25 dogs are to be added in over the course of the next month.Earlier, a separate post of IG (Prohibition) had been created especially to look into proper implementation of the law.

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