Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 25 (IANS): In an early morning swoop by a team of nine Kerala Police officers at a house in Kottayam on Monday, they had a tough time to ward off around 13 ferocious dogs who were guarding a drug dealer living there.

The trained dogs including Pitbull, Rottweiler and similar breeds were in the house when the police came.

Even though Robin, the drug dealer, managed to escape, the probe team found 13 kg of ganja, according to the Kottayam SP of Police K.Karthik.

“The raid was based on a tip off and our team was on the watch. After getting a search warrant from a local court, the team arrived at the residence. The suspect, however, managed to escape,” said Karthik.

“We understand that this person was a dog trainer and used to run a day care centre for dogs. We have also come to know that he had trained his dogs to attack anyone in khaki colour dress ( police). Our probe to take into custody the person is going on and we will do that,” added Karthik.

The locals were surprised to see a big number of police officials arriving and none had a clue of the ‘drug’ business that was going on, as neighbours felt that it was dog owners who used to frequent and not those who came to buy ganja and other such things.