Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

STF sniffer dogs begin their hunt for Veerappan

By V.S. Palaniappan

Sathyamangalam April 14. The three sniffer dogs of the Tamil Nadu Special Task Force have begun their hunt in the jungles for the sandalwood smuggler, Veerappan, and his associates.

The STF was hitherto availing the services of sniffer dogs belonging to the police force from the neighbouring districts on a need-based approach. But, now, in an effort to have an exclusive sniffer/tracker dog squad for the operations, the STF has obtained two new Doberman puppies. These 11-month old puppies — Sultan and Seema — are now accompanying the core operation teams to track down the brigand and are kept at the STF base camp at Sathyamangalam.

The induction of the sniffer dogs was aimed at making the operations more precise, instead of searching for a needle in a haystack, the Additional Director-General of Police, TNSTF, R. Nataraj, told The Hindu.

Another Doberman pup — Surya — doing duty with the STF from the regular police, was now three years old. Alsatian (German Shepherd) or Labrador puppies could not be inducted because they ran the risk of ticks and leeches getting on to their body which might go unnoticed. Also, these breeds might not be as agile as the Doberman, he said. Four more puppies were undergoing training with the Chennai City Police and expected to join the STF soon.

The ones currently on deployment were given training on picking up scent from a cloth or a hat left behind by the ``enemy.''

The hat, bags and other belongings left behind by Veerappan during the abductions and police encounters were now being used for training these dogs.

The dogs were also made to move around with the STF members so that while accompanying them in the combing operations they could pick up the scent of strangers and track them down.

This training for 4-5 hours a day was expected to help in nabbing intruders who ventured into the forests for committing any offences or those who came to supply food and ration to the Veerappan gang, said SPs, M. Ashok Kumar and N.K. Senthamaraikannan.

These dogs were trained not to bark inside the jungles while in operation, and to remain unperturbed by the wireless sound and to stealthily move and pounce on the "enemy" without barking.

The most rigorous part of the training was preparing them to remain in the jungles overnight and to eat whatever was offered.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• POTA to be invoked against Gopal
• `Cong. duty-bound to throw out AIADMK Govt.'
• Truckers strike near-total in TN
• Central-Egmore link project stone-laying tomorrow
• The snake that won't even hiss
• STF sniffer dogs begin their hunt for Veerappan
• Ponnaiyan clarifies
• New Kancheepuram-Chennai BG EMU flagged off
• DPI cadres change names, protesting conversion law
• Move court to bail out arrested leaders, says Karunanidhi
• LPG supplies may be hit
• Computers in police stations, but connectivity not now

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu