BOLTON police are adding extra bite to their anti-drugs operation by introducing a new sniffer dog team to the town.

As part of Greater Manchester Police's Operation Jigsaw anti-drugs enforcement campaign, the dogs and dog handlers are being drafted into Bolton and three other areas.

From the end of this month the dogs will be out on the beat.

Chief Superintendent Paul Cook, head of Operation Jigsaw, said: "The impact of using these dogs to assist our officers in retrieving drugs from secreted places will be felt all round Greater Manchester.

"These specialist dogs will complement the excellent work already being done by police officers in pursuing offenders supplying drugs on our streets."

Labradors and a springer spaniel have been trained for the work.

They have been trained to find suspicious packages but then back off without touching them to make sure they do not damage potential evidence.

A total of seven dogs, which will also be on patrol in south Manchester, Wigan and Trafford, have been funded with a £7,000 Home Office grant.

Rochdale, Bury and Tameside are in line to get sniffer dogs later in November.

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