India: Drug dealer trained dogs to bite people in police uniform during raids

 A surprise search operation planned by the police’s anti-narcotics squad at the house of a suspected drug dealer in southern India turned out into a nightmare after they were confronted by several violent dogs.

It has now emerged that the suspect in Kottayam, Kerala had trained the dogs to bite anyone who was wearing a police uniform.

The search operation on Sunday night (September 23) was hindered by the presence of the dogs which also helped the accused in escaping the police, while the officials focused on avoiding the attacks of the canines.

However, the officials were able to subdue the dogs and seize over 17 kilogrammes of ganja from the site, said the police.

“The accused had imparted training to the dogs to bite on seeing khaki [the common police uniform colour in India],” a senior police official said.

“He had been briefly trained in dog handling by a person retired from the BSF [Border Security Force], but was kicked out from there for asking questions like how to make dogs bite someone wearing khaki,” SP K Karthick IPS told reporters.

He said it was almost midnight when the anti-narcotics squad,  along with the officers from the nearby Gandhinagar police station, reached the location, Kottayam.

“We did not expect there would be so many dogs here and that they would be violent. So, we faced difficulty initially in carrying out a proper search. Fortunately, none of the officers were injured,” said the police official. 

The district police’s top officer further said that the accused, who was living under the guise of a dog trainer, was a drug seller and the same was proved after they seized more than 17 kgs of ganja from the site.

“According to our preliminary investigation, he (the accused) was living here on rent and was known to everyone in the area as a dog trainer. Therefore, people used to leave their dogs with him, at the rate of ₹ 1,000 per day, when they went outside and he would look after the canines,” Karthick said.

At present, around 13 dogs are present at the site and after their owners have been identified, the police will hand over the canines to them.

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He further said that they have constituted a special investigation team to look into the case.  “We first need to catch the accused and then find out if any others were also involved in the racket,” the officer stated.

(With inputs from agencies)

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