Four ‘Osama hunter’ breed dogs will now guard Bengaluru railway stations

BENGALURU: Belgian Malinois dogs — Bruce Lee, Baghira, Rambo and Simba— will soon be stationed at railway stations in the city.
The Railway Protection Force (RPF) has inducted the Belgian Malinois dogs, a breed favoured by United States Navy SEALs and militaries across the world, into its force. Belgian Malinois dogs played a key role in tracing Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011 and IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Syria eight years later.
“We are planning to deploy one dog each at KSR Bengaluru City, Yeswantpur, Cantonment stations and at the yet-to-be inaugurated Sir M Visvesvaraya terminal at Byappanahalli,” said a senior RPF official in the Bengaluru division of South Western Railway. RPF spent Rs 65,000 for each dog and also has plans to buy two more.
This is the first time that the RPF, which traditionally uses the services of Labradors and German Shepherds at railways stations, has inducted Belgian Malinois dogs for Bengaluru. Commonly mistaken for the German Shepherd for their similar physical attributes, Belgian Malinois are a well-muscled, elegant, highly intelligent breed with excellent scent tracking skills and unflappable courage.
According to RPF officials, they received these specially skilled explosives-sniffing canines in January and they have been sent to the National Police Dog Training Centre (NPDTC) in Pune for a six-month training. They were taken in an 1st AC coach and are expected to reach Bengaluru by June-July, also by train.
Known for its aggression, raw power and espionage skills, Belgian Malinois dogs are already being deployed in the army, CRPF, ITBP, NSG, Mumbai and Kolkata police forces etc. CISF is also using these dogs at Delhi airport and Metro stations. “Belgian Malinois dogs are effective in dealing with conflict situations. They don’t tire easily since they are not bulky and can walk up to 30km without breaks,” said an official. They can detect human presence, explosives/weapons and drugs.
At present, RPF Bengaluru division has five dogs and all of them are Labradors. “We have a dedicated dog squad in RPF and also have kennels at Cantonment and Yeshwantpur. Dogs sheltered at the kennel in Cantonment are being deployed at KSR Bengaluru and Cantonment railway stations and others at Yeshwantpur station,” said an official.
“These dogs will be used for anti-sabotage checking of trains, platforms, parcel offices and other important railway areas to prevent untoward incidents. We are planning to provide GoPro cameras for these dogs, which will capture footage on a real-time basis. Visakhapatnam station had inducted canines with such cameras” he added.