The 10 new members of the Maldives Police Service (MPS) dog squad have begun taking part in operations.
MPS stated that the new police dogs were trained to sniff out explosives in the United States (US). Police officers were also trained in the US to handle the dogs. The new police dogs were first used in Addu City in November to search for an explosive in an operation conducted to stop a terrorist attack.
The dog squad now consists of 25 members. They are used for operations conducted at the Maldives Customs Service, Maldives Ports Limited (MPL), and the Velana International Airport (VIA). They are also used to conduct searches at high-profile events.
MPS began using dogs to search for drugs in 2015. The current members of the dog squad have the capability to search for drugs, explosives, and dirty money.