The drug menace is spreading at fast pace in Haryana, especially in the districts adjoining the Punjab and Rajasthan which is a matter of serious concern requiring the state government to take concrete steps to tackle the scourge. In the last few years, there has hardly been any assembly session when the ruling party or the opposition has not expressed concern about it. In a bid to curb the menace, the state crime branch has decided to induct 31 new sniffer dogs of two different breeds. In continuation to this a tender has been floated for the purchase of sniffer dogs.
It is expected that the induction of new sniffer dogs will help in curbing not only drug trafficking but also other types of criminal activities. The new dogs will be Labradors and German shepherds under 2-3 months age group. The dogs of these breeds also proved their mettle so many times earlier. Of these, there will be 16 Labradors and 15 German Shepherds. These are very helpful in a way to smell any objectionable substance or object or about any suspicious activity. It is pertinent to mention that the concerned department had decided earlier to induct a total of 64 dogs in its squad and out of these, as many as 33 dogs were inducted in the squad. Apart from this, the state police has 23 dogs kept under the state police headquarter being used in different capacities.
One of the experts informed that the labrador have unique features as they are very friendly and calm. On the other hand, talking about German Shepherd dogs he said that they are very active and athletic. Apart from this, they are also very useful in identifying suspicious situations. The dog squad always played a pivotal role in tightening the noose around the criminals along with detecting explosives so many times. The explosive-detection sniffer dogs played a vital role during the Samjhauta Express blast in February 2007, and detected explosives in high quantity in a car parked outside the Ambala railway station in October 2011.