The Police on Tuesday announced the deployment of personnel and trained dogs to complement existing security apparatus at railway stations across the country.
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Mohammed Adamu, announced this in Abuja and said that the initiative was within the context of the Force’s “Operation Puff Adder’’.
According to him, the idea is to complement the existing measures emplaced for the security and safety of passengers and critical infrastructure of Nigeria Railway Corporation.
Adamu disclosed that dog handling section of the police, K9, had professionally trained the dogs and personnel handling them.
“The deployment of special breed and exceptionally-trained police dogs for security duties is as old as human civilisation.
“Their utilisation in combating crimes and sundry internal security threats in the 21st century cannot be over emphasised.
“Indeed, K9 are known to possess extraordinary capacity for detection of Improvised Explosives Devices (IEDs), narcotics and other illicit drugs, firearms and other prohibited items which criminals usually engage for the perfection of their activities.
“The deployment of Police dogs is, therefore, meant for detection or prevention of crimes along the railway corridors,” he said.
The police chief said that the dogs would be used for patrols, surveillance, detection and apprehension of felons in and around railway facilities.
According to him, the Nigerian Police has prided itself as having one of the most equipped, experienced, highly trained and functional K9 Section.
He said that the dogs had commendable antecedent of successful anti-crime, crowd control and civil disorder management operations.
“Indeed, it is on record that the Nigeria Police Force Animal Branch has been instrumental to the training and development of similar branches for other security agencies in the country.
“By this event today, our plan is to maximize our unique K9 strength to complement other sections that have been deployed towards addressing our internal security challenges.
“It will be recalled that prior to this time, about 1,000 additional police personnel were deployed to the Nigeria Police Railway Command,” he said.
He added that the deployment of the dogs and personnel would no doubt guarantee safety of lives and property of passengers, staff and other citizens patronising rail transport in the country.
