The elite anti-terrorist force of Andhra Pradesh, Octopus (Organisation for Counter Terrorist Operations), secured the top spot in the 7th All India Joint Exercise in anti-Terrorist Operations, held at Manesar in Haryana.
The competition titled as ‘Agni’ featured special forces from nine States, including the famed National Security Guards (NSG).
The 18-member Octopus squad had gone to Manesar in September and after two weeks of quarantine, the competition was held for two weeks. The results were declared on Friday, said Additional DG of Octopus and Greyhounds Rajeev Kumar Meena.
Speaking to The Hindu , he said that this was for the first time that we had won the overall championship, by scoring ahead of the NSG and other elite special forces. Head Constable of Octopus, Papa Rao, was also awarded the best all-rounder in the competition. The elite counter terrorism organisation was established on October 1, 2007, in the then unified Andhra Pradesh. Post bifurcation, both the Telugu speaking States, have maintained the force individually.
Both the states have their own training centres and in Andhra Pradesh, the training centre is in Visakhapatnam.
The Octopus is deployed for protection of high value targets including the CM and are trained to handle counter terrorism operations in urban set ups, just like the Greyhounds that specialise in anti-Naxal operations in jungle warfare.
The commandos are trained in handling sophisticated weapons and are also provided the best of the weapons, after a gruelling training.
