PARIS: In a significant development, India's revered ‘K-9’ team, the elite dog squad of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), has been selected to beef up security measures for the Paris Olympics.
They are renowned for their remarkable skills in safeguarding high-profile events such as the Republic Day celebrations and protecting the Prime Minister.
This deployment also happens to be their first task at an international event of this magnitude.
Javed Ashraf, the Indian Ambassador to France, informed about the decision of stationing a ten-member K-9 team in Paris for a month to assist in securing the upcoming Olympics.
These highly trained dogs will be accompanied by their ITBP handlers and they will play a vital role in ensuring the safety of the games.
As the upcoming Olympic Games approaches closer, extensive security arrangements have been put in place to foil potential terrorist threats and maintain public order.
In light of India’s ‘security cooperation’ with France, the K-9 team has been specifically invited to contribute to these efforts.
Apart from their Olympics duties, the ITBP’s K-9 team also helped to bolster security in France’s National Day celebrations on July 14.
Their expertize turned out to be beneficial during the grand parade in Paris, featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the chief guest last year.
The ITBP’s K-9 unit comprises of breeds like Belgian Malinois, Labradors, and other local dogs. This unit specializes in complex operations like detecting explosives, ammunition, and narcotics.
The Special Protection Group (SPG) and National Security Guards (NSG) use these canines in providing security to the VVIP's. Moreover, they also play a crucial role in identifying IEDs (Improvized explosive devices) in Naxal-infested regions.
The ITBP’s K-9 team undergoes extensive training at Bhanu near Chandigarh and this squad shares a similar regimen with the Indian Army’s sniffer teams, which are trained at the Remount and Veterinary Corps (RVC) in Meerut and play a critical part in counter-terrorism operations along the Line of Control (LoC).
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