A mock drill jointly undertaken by Kerala Police and the CISF at the Thiruvananthapuram Airport on Friday. | Photo Credit: S.GOPAKUMAR more-in Six gun-toting ‘terrorists’ entered the premises of the Thiruvananthapuram Airport on Friday, creating a wave of panic among passengers and others who were present. Soon enough, the airport security force sounded an alert, prompting the mobilisation of a large contingent of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) in various directions in hot pursuit of the ‘infiltrators.’ Information regarding the security breach was also relayed to the Kerala Police from the control room at the airport. It took a sizeable group of personnel attached to the commando wing of the police force barely a few minutes to reach the airport and take positions after being briefed about the situation by a CISF officer. Following an hour-long intense operation, the ‘terrorists’ were neutralised by the security personnel, who also managed to ensure the safe release of a passenger who was held hostage. The operation that unfolded at the airport premises was a multi-agency mock drill that was conducted jointly by the CISF and the Kerala Police against suicide terrorist attacks. According to Maheshwar Dayal, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the CISF (Airport Sector – South Zone), similar exercises have been initiated in all sensitive airports across the country. The drive is being undertaken in the wake of a suicide attack on a Border Security Force (BSF) camp, located near the Srinagar International airport, on October 3, in which a soldier was killed. “The mock drills are being conducted to evaluate the response mechanism that is in place to deal with such attacks and to enhance inter-agency coordination with the local police,” he said. The preparedness to counter any threat was put to test with CISF personnel, commandos of the Kerala Police who have been trained in anti-terror operations, Bomb Detection and Disposal Squads and sniffer dogs being deployed for the action. CISF Commandant Sunit Sharma, Deputy Commissioner of Police G. Jaidev and CISF Deputy Commandant B.K. Shetty coordinated the mock drill. Inspector V.G. Ajith Kumar led the commandos of the Kerala Police in the ‘operation’ According to an official, the drill was planned between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., when there were no flight operations in the airport in order to prevent inconvenience to passengers.

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