The CRPF, in a rare instance, has decided to accord one of its highest service honours to an infantry patrol dog whose quick action saved the lives of many troops during an anti-Naxal operation in Odisha.
The female canine, named Juliet, is a Belgian Shepherd Malinois and is the cousin of the breed of canines that reportedly assisted the elite U.S. Navy Seals in sniffing out Osama bin Laden from his safe haven in Pakistan in May 2011. CRPF chief Dilip Trivedi announced a Director General (DG) Commendation Disc, usually awarded to serving personnel and officers for either accomplishing a daredevil task or rendering exceptional service, to Juliet.
The latest episode occurred on Wednesday when Juliet was out for duty in the jungles of Keonjhar district of Odisha.
After about 8-km of patrol, a senior official said, the squad reached the notorious ‘Sal Ghati’ under Daitri police station area when Juliet diligently began sniffing a mound of earth lying near the dirt track.
Her handler, Constable Zale Singh, goaded her as she promptly dug out the electric wires of a hidden 20-kg IED buried 2-feet deep, which was also fitted with detonators and torch cells for activation.
The patrol squad was immediately alerted by the scout officer, the official said, after which the IED was sanitised.
The bomb disposal team was then called into diffuse the deadly bomb which, once activated, would have claimed many lives.
