Sniffer dog ‘smells a rat’; ganja peddler lands in net

Thiruvananthapuram: Within two weeks of his induction into the Government Railway Police, Jack, the

sniffer dog

specialized in narcotics, has garnered much attention.

On Wednesday, when the police was conducting a random search at the Thiruvananthapuram Central railway station, Jack identified a bag filled with

ganja

, which led to the arrest of Abhiraj (22), who was seated inside the waiting room in the first platform.

Abhiraj a resident of Pachalloor had arrived at the railway station from Visakhapatnam and was waiting for his aid to hand over the ganja he was carrying with him. Though the police could not catch hold of the person who aided Abhiraj, they could recover 16.3kg ganja, which was stuffed inside two travel bags.

“We believe this is an organized racket at work,” said Suresh Kumar, station house officer, railway police station, Thiruvananthapuram.

Jack completed a nine-month training at the state training academy, Thrissur, along with his handlers Sajin Raj and Sandeep SV before joining the Government Railway Police on January 26. He also became the first sniffer dog to join the railway police in Thiruvananthapuram and second in the state.

“Based on inputs about use of ganja becoming rampant amongst schools and college students, for the past few days we have intensified search operations at the railway stations and today’s catch was a result of this alertness. It is believed that 90% of ganja comes into the state from Andhra Pradesh–Odisha border,” said Manjunath H, Railway SP.

With the allocation of a sniffer dog dedicated to the railway police, they hope to crack down the drug mafia in the coming days.