Indian K9 soldiers to provide security at Paris Olympics

The two Belgian Malinois K9'soldiers' of the CRPF, Vast, age five, and Denby, age three, will be among the ten K9 teams, which will include the dogs and their handlers, that will be tasked with providing security for the Paris Olympics starting next week.

The ten dogs, which are a mixture of various central armed police forces (CAPFs) such as the CRPF, NSG, SSB, and ITBP, will be in Paris from August 1 to August 11 for a month. During that time, they will perform their sniffing and patrolling tasks under the general supervision of the French authorities who are in charge of the security of all Olympic venues and events.

The French government requested that the K9 teams be assigned to the Olympics. For reasons other than disaster assistance, this is the first time an Indian K9 unit from the CAPFs has been deployed abroad. Similar to Vast and Denby, the dogs of the security unit for the Paris Olympics have undergone extensive training and unique conditioning specifically for their overseas duty. It is also reported that their trainers underwent rudimentary French language instruction.


Jawed Ashraf, the Indian ambassador to France and Monaco, gave the K9 teams a warm welcome when he shared a snapshot of their meeting on social media, writing, "Happy to meet 10-member K9 unit from India, for a month in Paris to support Security for #ParisOlympics2024." After their trip from India, our K9 stars and handlers are doing well and are back to work in time for National Day. He mentioned that the CAPF canine warriors had also given him a good handshake.


[With TOI inputs]