'Polo' gets his first posting: Dog of breed that helped eliminate Osama bin Laden to guard Delhi metro from next week

By Ankur Sharma
New Delhi [India], September 1 : Travelling by Delhi Metro, which is reopening after almost six months on September 7, may give you a chance to meet a new guardian "Polo"- an agile Belgian Malinois dog with special skills who has been given his first posting by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
The well-trained dog will be performing his first duty at Delhi metro stations.
Polo is no ordinary dog as he belongs to the same breed which played a very important role in an operation launched by US security forces in Pakistan to eliminate Osama Bin Laden.
The same breed dog "Cairo" had identified Osama Bin Laden during the operation. After his identity was established, Osama was eliminated by US SEALs.
This would be the first time when Belgian Malinois breed dog will be deployed at any establishment in the national capital.
"He is the only dog who is master of all three trades -- sniff, attack and guard while other breads like German shepherd and Labrador can perform only one task" his handler M Mariselvam said.
CISF normally has one handler per dog but as Polo is a special dog, there are two handlers for him.
"He is totally different from others because of his agility, attacking skill and sniffing sense. He belongs to the same breed which was used in an operation to eliminate Osama Bin Laden. He can walk almost 40 kilometres while other dogs can walk up to 4-7 kilometres. He can attack also in case of any terror attack and has outstanding sniffing sense," K9 team head Inspector Rajender Pilania told ANI.
"He will be most likely to be deployed at major metro stations like Rajiv Chowk, Kashmiri gate etc while we can use him in theft cases too. Polo is completely different from others," he added.
CISF K9 team is all set to be back on security duties in the metro as the government has allowed graded metro operations in the fourth phase of Unlock as part of relaxations after the lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
CISF has 61 dogs who will be deployed in different locations of Delhi metro.
Pilania said the trainers have been maintaining social distancing norms and training dogs in small groups. "All dogs stayed in kennels all the day," he said.
"They will be working in different shifts of four hours. They are well-trained dogs who are masters in different trade, except Polo. He knows everything," he added.