After having served for 10 years that included crucial operations in the bomb squad team of the Nalgonda police department, sniffer dog Royal was laid to rest at the Canine Training Centre (CTC) here on Friday.
Police records said the male Labrador was born in 2007 and trained at the Integrated Intelligence Training Academy (IITA) in Moinabad near Hyderabad, from where it was assigned to the district.
According to DSP (Armed Reserve) Suresh Kumar, Royal was the oldest serving canine in Nalgonda since the unit was first established in 1998.
Canines are specially assigned a single duty, trackers or sniffers. Royal was a sniffer whose job was mostly to sniff out suspicious material, drugs and contraband, and aid in police investigation. In addition to the bomb hoax on the Narayanadri Express in 2008, Royal was active in assuring security arrangements at VIP meetings, during visits of Governor and Ministers, and large festival and public gatherings. His service was condemned in May 2017 due to old age and illness.
An emotional police constable Chinnababu, the assigned dog handler to Royal, said he had been his caretaker since the time it was 40 days old.
