Safety measures: Brazilian security stages anti-terror drill

Soldiers carry out simulated counter-terrorism exercises ahead of Rio Games

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian security forces conducted a simulated counter-terrorism operation on Saturday at a Rio de Janeiro train station ahead of the Summer Olympics, a day after security was beefed up following the truck attack in Nice.

Two people posing as violent extremists in a train parked at a platform set off an explosion and then fired a series of blank rounds. A dozen soldiers quickly arrived to begin containing the “attack”.

Special Forces members then arrived in two helicopters. Briefed about the situation by the soldiers, they lobbed a grenade into the train then stormed it, neutralising the “terrorists”.



Planned before the attack in southern France, the exercise took place in the Deodoro train station in northern Rio. Deodoro is one of four main Olympic venues, along with Maracana, Copacabana and Barra da Tijuca, the headquarters of the Rio Games.



“The exercise was very useful, because it allowed us to work within real parameters for the operation and utilization of the troops,” said General Mauro Sinott, who heads the military’s counterterrorism unit.

He said: “It is one more exercise, conducted on a regional level, just as we have done around football matches in order to involve all our agencies in this effort.”



The overall operations coordinator for Olympic security, Cristiano Barbosa Sampaio, said that “in the absence of a concrete threat against Brazil, we are on yellow alert, which calls for heightened attention and response levels from the ordinary green level.”

“This involves an increase in both resources and personnel. This can be ratcheted up further to an orange or red level if a concrete threat to Brazil should be identified,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2016.

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