Bhubaneswar: The Hyderabad Hub of the National Security Guard (NSG) conducted a security drill at the Infosys SEZ campus at Infovalley, which comes under the IT and ITES SEZ of Gaudakashipur and Arisol villages on the city’s outskirts along the Bhubaneswar-Khurda corridor recently.
This was the first drill conducted in a campus of IT and IT enabled services (IT & ITES) organisation in the city.
The drill, inside the SEZ of the Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO), simulated a hostage-taking event involving five heavily armed terrorists.
One company each from the NSG and the Special Technical Unit (STU) from the Special Operations Group (SOG), two platoons of the Odisha State Armed Police, police units from the Twin City Commissionerate, bomb disposal squad, fire services and the traffic police participated in the exercise.
The exercise started with five NSG commandos acting as terrorists entering the campus June 21 through the main entrance by killing two guards. Once inside they attacked a building and took five employees hostage. The local police and the Commissionrate Police was informed. Within five minutes two armed constables and the local IIC reached the Infosys campus.
The IIC was briefed about the situation by the guards in charge and he immediately deployed two armed constables near the entrance of the building to restrict the terrorists.
After 30 minutes OSAP platoons reached the campus. These forces were immediately deployed for cordoning off the campus and the Special Technical Unit of the SOG reached the campus.
The STU unit was briefed by the head of the security and the IIC. The STU and the Bomb Disposal Unit immediately placed snipers around the building at strategic points, cordoned it off and ordered blackout of the area.
By then the STU unit had managed to gain access to the software development building (SDB-B) from the northern emergency exit, sanitized three floors, killed a terrorist and neutralised an IED.
As the operation progressed, the STU faced stiff resistance from the ultras and suffered heavy casualties. The commandant asked for NSG intervention from the unified command set up at the Commissionerate Police office. The NSG Hyderabad hub was then contacted for providing assistance.
An NSG company then took-off from Hyderabad airport in full battle gear and landed at BBSR. A green corridor was provided by the traffic police along with a pilot vehicle (real time).
They reached the campus and the commandos were then briefed by the STU commandant and the Infosys head of security about the ground situation as well as the building’s layout and entry/exit points.
The commandos jumped into action after discussing with the STU, clearly understanding their positions in and around the building including radio networking, sniper position etc. The operation continued for three hours and finally the hostages were rescued.
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