Security in the city has been scaled up following an intelligence input alerting the police about possible attacks in Tiruchi, Madurai, and Chennai in the coming days.
Anti-sabotage teams of the Tiruchi City Police have been placed on alert with Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) personnel deployed at vantage places to deal with any emergency. The police have been asked to shore up intelligence machinery and put in place adequate security to avert any untoward incident at a time when elections are round the corner.
A security related coordination meeting was held at the international airport here on Thursday in which airport and airline officials besides those other agencies participated.
A similar meeting was held at Tiruchi Railway Junction on Friday and it was attended by officials of the Government Railway Police, Railway Protection Force, and the City Police to discuss the response system to be put in place jointly in the wake of the intelligence input.
Police sources said anti-sabotage teams armed with necessary equipment for detecting and disposing explosive substances had been deployed in all the four ranges – Cantonment, Fort, Srirangam and Golden Rock besides a separate BDDS team for the international airport.
The sources said the input was that the attacks might be carried out in mid-April at vital installations with local assistance. The GRP and RPF personnel jointly conducted a security drive at the Tiruchi Junction on Friday in the aftermath of the meeting.
The SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) to be followed had been driven home to the field level security personnel of the GRP and the RPF. The joint security-related steps to be taken by the GRP and the RPF at Tiruchi Junction were discussed at the meeting, the sources said.
