Glitches to the fore in anti-hijack drill

Nagpur: The joint anti-hijacking exercise of the city police and airport's security agencies on Thursday ended on an ambiguous note with certain bizarre lacunae showing up. Though city police chief Ankush Dhanvijay justified the situation, some incidents left behind questions about the seriousness of the drill conducted at the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International airport.
Among the commandos of the Quick Response Team (QRT), which rushed after the Air Traffic Control (ATC) alerted about the so-called hi-jacking of an international flight, it was noticed that one jawan was armed with ancient .303 rifle. Thankfully, others had sophisticated firearms like MP5 and AK-47s. Sources from the QRT said musket rifles are used by the commandos to tackle routine law and order. "When not dealing with sabotage attack, QRT falls back on these rifles for maintaining peace. The firearms are not outdated as far as the unit is concerned," they said. But a hijack emergency hardly seemed like routine law and order situation.
08/09/12 Soumittra S Bose/Times of India

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Categories: airports Sep 2012, Safety Sep 2012