Mysuru: Terrorist activities in Mysuru and surrounding districts must be curbed by the local Police after coordinating with the Central and State-level intelligence officers. Internal security advice and alerts issued by the Centre on potential terror acts must be taken seriously, said Soumendu Mukherjee, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Internal Security.

Holding a day-long meeting of Anti-Terror Squad, Police and Intelligence officers at the Office of Superintendent of Police yesterday, Soumendu said that prevention of terror activities was better than hunting for terrorists after they strike.

“Monitoring terror starts with each Policeman collecting information about transport of ammunition, explosives, hard cash and other materials from one place to another and information on suspicious persons entering the city. Such information can be effectively used to foil terror strikes. In addition, guest houses, small paying guest accommodation, bachelor’s accommodation, and temporary stay set-ups must be monitored because terrorists do not prefer regular hotel accommodation because of strict CCTV monitoring,” he said.

From time to time, the Centre issues terror alerts and these must be taken seriously by Police Chiefs and instructions must percolate to the local Police Station level. “For better results, the officers of anti-terror squad must closely coordinate with the Centre and its intelligence officers for security inputs and discuss measures to curb terror activities,” he advised.

“You must coordinate with State Intelligence Wing, Internal Security Division and also Intelligence Bureau to break terror plans and disrupt their activities,” he said.  Mysuru has an Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) that has been set up following the directions from the Office of Director General and Inspector General of Police (DG and IGP) to prevent terror activities and Mysuru is the only city apart from Bengaluru to be equipped with a dedicated squad to deal with terror activities.

The ATS squad consists of 90 personnel that includes 58 from Commando Team and 32 from Swift Action Team (SWAT). The squad is a combination of several wings and will work in tandem to keep a tab on any terror activities.

As part of the meeting, Soumendu Mukherjee also chaired a workshop organised for ATS personnel and briefed the participating men about the activities to be conducted as part of the new set up. The participants were told to fine-tune their knowledge both with national and international affairs related to terrorist activities.

The IGP told City Police Commissioner K.T. Balakrishna to introduce a standard operating procedure to enable the squad to work in accordance with the do’s and don’ts. The squad will also undergo training at the exclusive training centre in Bengaluru. SP Amit Singh, DCP Muthuraj, ASP Sneha, ACPs, Inspectors and Special Branch staff were present.