Ten-year-old narcotics sniffer dog Steffi has done the MP police proud just a year before its retirement by successfully tracking down 90 kg of ganja stashed by a drug smuggler in Bhind district.
It’s perhaps the first time in the central Indian state that a narco dog has tracked down such a big haul of the contraband drug.
Further, as a result of this exemplary act by the black female cocker spaniel posted at the Bhind District Police Lines, a professional dog handler will serve as a prosecution witness during the trial of an NDPS Act case perhaps for the first time in the state.
“Hitherto independent private witnesses have deposed in such cases during the course of the trial. But it will be perhaps for the first time in the state that a dog handler will be the key eyewitness in the NDPS Act case,” Bhind district police superintendent Manoj Singh told The New Indian Express on Saturday.
On Thursday, cops at Bhind’s Raun police station got specific inputs about a big consignment of ganja, acting on which they nabbed a youth identified as Shivam Bhardwaj along with Rs 10 kg ganja from Birkhidi village.
“Despite being grilled thoroughly by the police, the arrested youth didn’t reveal where more ganja was stashed. The Bhind District Police has been given three trained sniffer dogs including two narco dogs from the state police headquarters. We decided to use the narco dog Steffi which successfully tracked 91 kg ganja hidden in a storehouse of husk and straw on Thursday night,” the Bhind SP added.
While the ganja tracked by the narco dog is valued at over Rs 90 lakh, the total seizure, including the 10 kg ganja seized earlier, is worth more than Rs 1 crore.