Patna, Nov. 16: Most things about the Sonepur cattle fair are jumbo, even sometimes the samosa prices.

A Dutch couple were saved from being duped into paying Rs 10,000 for four samosas at the fairground, 50km from here, by local boys and girls deployed as “community police”.

The couple had come down from Bhutan to see the famous fair, where cattle are far outnumbered by elephants, and eaten four samosas at a food stall.

The vendor, glimpsing a bundle of 1,000-rupee notes in the foreigners’ possession, charged them Rs 2,500 for each samosa, Sonepur subdivisional officer P.K. Das said. “The vendor explained the samosas had been made with herbs that were very good for health.”

The couple paid up but a while later approached community policeman Alok Kumar to find out if four samosas could cost Rs 10,000.

Kumar gathered other volunteers round, raided the stall and forced the vendor to return Rs 9,990 to the couple after deducting Rs 10, the actual price. The vendor, however, fled the scene and escaped arrest.

Some 300 boys and girls have been trained and deployed as special police officers (SPOs) at the November 10-December 6 fair, Das said. They have full police powers and are dressed in black trousers and white shirt, with “SPO” inscribed on their caps and shirt sleeves.

In the fair’s first week, they have already reunited 125 lost children with their families.