Anti-terror drill in city raises ‘scare’

Reported by Santosh Jagdev

Bhubaneswar, Jan 3 :

A curious crowd gathered outside the Mayfair Lagoon hotel here late on Thursday night as dramatic scenes unfolded before their eyes.

There was great suspense over what was really happening inside the posh hotel as armed security personnel sneaked into the hotel and sealed not only its entry and exit points but also all roads that lead to it.

There was panic in the locality following rumours that a terrorist group had found its way into the hotel and held some guests hostage.

But soon, as people found out to their great relief, it was only a mock exercise.

“To ensure quality security arrangements to tackle terror attacks were in place at this star hotel, the anti-terrorist squad (ATS) and National Security Guards (NSG) were conducting a mock drill with the state police ,” a police official later told the OST.

The ‘routine operation’ ended when people who were held ‘hostage by the ‘terrorists’ were ‘rescued’ and the ‘captors gunned down’, he said.

This is the first time that the commandos conducted a mock drill in Bhubaneswar.

The operation which continued well past midnight was conducted with modern weapons and equipment that have been made available to the anti-terror squads following the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, sources said.