Train tipplers beware! Rex and Rocky are here

The first two canines to have been trained to detect liquor being smuggled on trains, joined Central Railway's Railway Protection Force unit's canine squad on Friday. The two arrived after their extensive training at the Border Security Force's canine training centre at Tekanpur near Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh.

Speaking to dna, Alok Bohra, senior divisional security commissioner, RPF, CR, said, "They have been trained in detecting narcotics and been provided with basic training in sniffing out liquor on trains. They will be given further an on-field training in the next few days."

According to RPF officials, Rocky, a black doberman, and Rex, a white labrador, joined the Matunga kennel and will bring in a new facet to canine policing by trying to sniff out liquor from trains, a menace that officials agreed is growing by the day.

The plan to get these dogs to detect liquor was first thought off at CR after the Dehra Dun Express fire, which occurred on January 8 this year and killed nine passengers.

The fire occurred on Western Railway's lines but the fact that three coaches got gutted in the fire in less than five minutes, got the authorities thinking that some external inflammable item - maybe liquor - was responsible. This led to CR general manager SK Sood, to come up with a plan to get canines to sniff out liquor.

Rex and Rocky are a part of the 37 strong canine unit of CR's RPF Mumbai unit and in a couple of years, CR will have three more kennels and also six more canines.

"The investment into canines is sometimes better than CCTVs and other technology because if properly trained, they can be of far more help with the detection of narcotics, explosives and liquor, inside railway premises than electronic equipment," said an official.