35 High-Value Police dogs arrive in Sri Lanka from the Netherlands

35 dogs worth 58 million rupees were transported from the Netherlands to Katunayake Airport in Sri Lanka in the early hours of Friday (July 5) for the Police Kennels Division of the Sri Lanka Police.

The dogs consist of 13 Belgian Malinois, 12 German Shepherds, and 10 English Spaniels, purchased from the private animal farm ‘K-10 Working Dog’ in the Netherlands.

Among them, 21 are females and 14 are males. Notably, two of the female English Spaniels are already pregnant, and one Belgian Malinois female has been bred with a strong dog from the farm.

Previously, in 2018, dogs were imported for the Police Kennels Division.

35 dogs arrived via Qatar before reaching Katunayake Airport’s air cargo terminal at 02:05 on Friday morning aboard Qatar Airways flight KR-662.

DIG Nihal Thalduwa, Police Media Spokesman, attended the Katunayake Airport’s Animal Quarantine Office to receive the dogs. They were then transferred to the quarantine office for veterinary checks before being handed over to dog trainers for placement in the Police Kennels Division.

Prior to their arrival in Sri Lanka, officers and veterinarians from the Police Kennels Division personally visited the Dutch farm to examine the dogs’ bones, genetics, and other characteristics.

DIG Nihal Thalduwa mentioned that these dogs, aged between 8 and 12 months, will undergo 3 months of training before being deployed across Sri Lanka for official duties. He expressed plans to initiate local breeding to reduce import costs.

These dogs are intended for official tasks in the western and southern provinces, particularly in detecting narcotics and supporting operations like ‘Yukthiya’. The Police Kennels Division currently has 372 official dogs, with these 35 new arrivals slated for inclusion after training.

The arrival process in Sri Lanka was coordinated by a team of police officers, including OIC Airport Police CI Elmo Malcolm Pate, who arranged for the dogs to be transported to the Police Kennels Division in Kandy via special buses.