MUMBAI: Following last November’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai and the state government’s decision to upgrade its weaponry, a team of high-level Maharashtra government officials arrived in Israel on Saturday to forge security ties with the country and evaluate the arms market there.
The team — which includes Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Chandra Iyengar, Mumbai Police Commissioner D. Shivanandan and Special Inspector General of Police P.K. Jain — is visiting Israel in line with a decision taken two months ago to send several teams of state police officers and Home Department officials to the US, the UK, European countries, China, South Africa and Israel.
The Mumbai terror attacks and two major ambushes on police in the Maoist-infested Gadchiroli district of the Marathwada region has compelled the state government to seek weapons and establish Force One, a crack commando unit on the lines of the elite National Security Guards (NSG).
According to a report published in a newspaper, the team will look to develop, with Israeli cooperation, a complete security solution to prevent another Mumbai-style attack from happening. A state Home Ministry official said that Israel is the team’s first destination, as it is an expert in urban security, and the manufacture and export of high-tech security equipment. The team spent Sunday studying the security plans of Jerusalem and met the city’s police chief who took the officials on a tour of a police training center.
The team attended a seminar on “Secure Cities” in Tel Aviv on Monday. The seminar was organized by the Israeli Export Institute, which has made homeland security - besides telecom and information technology — the main focus of Indo-Israeli trade ties. The team will also visit the port of Ashdod to understand port security and make several field visits to airports and companies manufacturing security and surveillance equipment.
A senior Home Department official told Arab News that the teams that are being sent abroad will complete their mission within two months and present their findings to the chief minister, the home minister and senior officials.
Asked about the requirements, the official said: “Foremost, we need to have the best officials of security agencies visit exhibition, conferences and expositions. We want to complete this part first.”
“We want to complete this The teams would meet of everything. As far as urban warfare is concerned, in the wake of the 26/11 incident and secondly, we also have to arm ourselves to the teeth in view of the incidents in the Maoist areas.”
Stating that the elite commando team, Force One, would be equipped with state of-the-art weapons, communication units and accessories, the official said that prior to these visits abroad, several big weapon manufacturers of security gadgets across the globe had called on state government officials since the past six months and gave presentations.
“Terrorism and Maoism are major challenges before us, the official said adding that “In Maharashtra, we are facing both these problems and now we need to have weapons that would suit our needs most and be the best.” When these teams come here, there would be several debriefing sessions wherein different aspects and the salient points of these visits would be studied and analyzed in detail. We would also have to work out the costs and do a analysis of that as well, before the orders are placed or tenders are invited.
