As cricket lovers watch India take on Pakistan on Tuesday, the eagle eyes of snipers will be scanning the stadium. And if something goes wrong, the police top brass say, commandos will be able to contain the situation in three minutes.
For the first time, the state’s counter-terror unit ‘Garuda Force’ is being deployed for a cricket match. Its 97 highly-trained commandos armed with state-of-the-art equipment will be on their toes around M Chinnaswamy Stadium from Tuesday morning for the T20 tie that starts at 7 pm.
A senior police officer told Express that the commandos have already done a recce of the stadium twice. “We have already identified certain vantage points around the stadium where snipers will be deployed. They are provided with telescopic guns, and a 1-km radius around the stadium will be covered by them.”
“The commandos will be stationed at the stadium too. The moment they get a message from their commanders, they will jump into action,” the officer said. “There are 50 sharpshooters among them and they will be headed by an officer of the rank of SP,” he added.