Ahead of Obama’s visit, Delhi Police forms crack force of 25 special ops commandos in 11 districts
Ahead of US President Barack Obama’s visit to the national Capital for Republic Day celebrations, the Delhi Police is leaving no stone unturned to ensure his security and formed a crack team in each district across Delhi.
The crack team would consist of a team of 25 specially-trained commandos. Security agencies have intensified their efforts to ward off any misadventure by terrorist groups after lashkar chief Hafiz Saeed’s open threat to India. Consisting of 25 commandos, the crack teams are being deployed in 11 police districts with orders to shoot at sight anyone caught red-handed.
The crack teams will be set up in 11 districts across the Capital. Delhi Police is in talks with the National Security Guard (NSG) for their training in handling specialised arms and ammunition. Senior police officials have started a drive to ascertain the current number of commandos in each district and their purpose.
Police officials are making sure that the security measures are in place and no untoward incident is reported. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama have been on the hitlist of various terror organisations and with them sharing the stage, security agencies are primed to react. Each crack team would have its own unit equipped with over 1,000 live ammunition, including sniper rifles, stun grenades, close-quarter battle weapons, bulletproof jackets, long-range weapons and other state-of-the-art weaponry.
These crack teams would serve as the backbone of the district police and would be available to them for tackling situations in minutes. The North district police, which is one of the first units to set it up, has them deployed in the Walled City round-the-clock. The district, which has tourist attractions such as Red Fort, Gauri Shankar temple, Fatehpur Masjid and Chandni Chowk areas, has the crack team in place. The crack teams will also help police curb street crime. With clear shoot-at-sight orders, the commandos will be able to deal with cases of robberies.
The `1.5 crore robbery heist in Kamla Nagar where the robbers shot dead a guard and escaped with the money was also a reason for police officers to initiate this. However, senior police officials chose to remain tightlipped about the crack teams and claimed it to be a routine exercise.