KOCHI: Kannur, Kasaragod, Wayanad and Malappuram districts in northern Kerala will come under close watch of state police as special Counter Intelligence Units (CIUs) are being exclusively set up to monitor activities of terror modules and Left wing extremists in these districts.
The Home Department, in an order dated July 11, 2019 , has given permission for setting up state-of-the-art CIUs in Wayanad and Kannur which will have all advanced facilities to track the activities of Maoists and sleeper cells of extremist organisations.
An allocation of `4 crore has been made to streamline the activities of CIUs.Senior police officers said CIUs will work in close coordination with the Special Operational Group (SOG) and Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) being raised in the state to deal with Left-wing extremism and terrorist activities.
“The main purpose of the CIU is to monitor and gather intelligence through various sources. The CIU will make use of advanced technology for the purpose. It will have Call Data Analysis tools, surveillance equipment, secret cameras, spy voice recorders and latest cyber forensic tools for surveillance. CIU staff will be provided appropriate training for the purpose,” said an officer.
An intelligence analysis of the prevailing ground-level situation in these districts has revealed that both CPI (Maoists) and sleeper units of terror modules have been establishing a well coordinated intelligence gathering network to track the activities of enforcement agencies.
“We need to have a strong counter intelligence system to tackle the situation,” the officer said.