Siliguri, March 19: The Siliguri division of the Government Railway Police (GRP) will have its own dog squad soon. The squad, comprising three dogs, is currently getting trained at Barrackpore, around 25km from Calcutta.

“We would be able to get our squad in place by the end of May,” said Mahender Singh Punia, the superintendent of Siliguri division of the GRP. “One dog would be posted at Malda, while the other two in Siliguri.”

The GRP bought the three — Rumki, Jhumki and Devil — costing Rs 10,000 each. Devil is a German shepherd, while the other two belong to the Labrador family.

“While the German shepherd is being trained for tracking down criminals, the Labradors will help the GRP detect explosives,” said Punia. “We had another Labrador called Messi for the detection of narcotics. After its death on January 26, we requested higher officers to provide another dog.”

Sealdah, Kharagpur and Howrah are the other divisions where the GRP has its own dog squads.

The division guards the 1,167km railway track from Sankosh, located on the Assam-Bengal border, to Farakka. In the past one year, there were incidents of bomb explosions in Belakoba and Kamakhyaguri, besides the detection of explosives at Dhupguri, prompting the formation of its dog squad. The division earlier used to engage the dogs of the Sashastra Seema Bal to carry out checks before Independence Day, Republic Day and festivals, besides VIP movement.