In an unusual step, the city police carried out two minor blasts with low intensity explosives here at Ramkote on Friday as part of a campaign to sensitise all educational institutions on security issues.
City police had initiated a security awareness programme involving different sections of society a month ago following a terror alert. In the backdrop of recent terror attack in Peshawar, Pakistan, they intensified their efforts by convening a meeting with representatives of all educational institutions in the Central Zone.
They chose Central Zone as it houses highly protected buildings like AP and Telangana Secretariats and State Legislatures. Bomb disposal squad Inspector Naga Sai, who defused an unexploded Improvised Explosive Device at Mecca Masjid in 2007 after terrorists carried out a bomb blast, enlightened how terror operatives plant explosives at public places.
A lunch box or an unclaimed bag lying in a corner could also contain the IED and endanger the lives of all, he said. Explaining further, he came down from the dais, picked up a lunch box on the floor and opened it. While the participants, mostly middle-aged and elders, expected a live bomb inside it, the box blew up.
“If you open unclaimed objects without alerting police, this might happen. I used five milligrams of low explosives for this blast. Imagine our fate if RDX is used for explosion,” he told the shocked viewers. Even as the viewers recovered from the reverberations and deafening sound, Central zone DCP V.B. Kamalasan Reddy told them that it was only a demonstration to understand the intensity of such possible attacks.
He took the opportunity to emphasise the need for all schools to install CCTV cameras and adequate security systems. “Remember, CCTV cameras also help us on other security issues like a recent complaint of a student that somebody kidnapped her proved to be false after analysing the video footage,” he said.
At the end, another blast - this time a bomb planted inside a heap of rubber tyres- was triggered on the lawns with all participants watching from a distance. While seeking their cooperation to make the city secure, the DCP warned that penal action would be initiated against them under the A.P. Public Safety Enforcement Act if security instructions were not complied with.
