Vehicular terrorism keeping city cops on toes

With a strength of just 80,000 personnel, responsible for monitoring over 90 lakh vehicles plying in Delhi, besides their other duties, the Delhi Police have become concerned about "vehicular terrorism". Senior officers said that since it is not humanly possible to monitor every vehicle, special drives are being undertaken to keep second-hand car dealers, unauthorised parking stands, and sale-purchase of vehicles on the police radar.

Police also fear that small-level gangs of auto-lifters might be made use of by terror modules to procure vehicles. Therefore, a close watch is being kept on such gangs, second-hand car dealers, and unauthorised parking areas.

"A crackdown has been initiated on a number of such places to ensure that no such act is taking place on the premises. Apart from this, secluded and unauthorised parking areas are on the police radar. These parking lots can be used by gangs of auto-lifters to hide stolen vehicles, which can then be sold off to suspicious groups, damaging the security system in the Capital," the office said.

"Keeping this vulnerability in mind, a crackdown on parking areas was conducted. As many as 550 parking areas were checked thoroughly across Delhi ahead of Independence Day, along with verification of hundreds of second-hand car dealers and cyber cafes," the officer added.A number of terrorism incidents in which vehicles were used extensively have come to the fore recently, with the latest such attack taking place in Barcelona on Thursday. The dreaded terrorist outfit ISIS has claimed responsibility for a number of such attacks in France, London, Sweden, and now Spain. This has led to the security agencies across the world taking stringent measures regarding safety.

After the Barcelona attack, security in the city was drastically stepped up. While anti-terror Parakram vans were strategically deployed in the city, at airports, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has increased patrolling and Quick response Teams (QRTs) and plainclothesmen have been deployed at several places.

Terror on wheels

June, 2017: One man died and eight were injured after a vehicle was driven into a crowd of pedestrians in north London.

April: A truck crashed into an upscale departmental store in central Stockholm, killing two people.

March: A man drove a car into pedestrians on the pavement along the south side of Westminster Bridge, injuring more than 50 people, four of them fatally.

January: A truck rammed into a group of uniformed Israel Defense Forces soldiers in Jerusalem, killing four and injuring 15.

July, 2016: A cargo truck was deliberately driven into a crowd in Nice of France, killing 86 people.

Analysis

The recent incidents in which terrorists used vehicles to wreak havoc have made it necessary for authorities to take immediate measures to mitigate the threat. Delhi police’s crackdown on unauthorised parking lots is a welcome step in that direction.

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/delhi/report-dna-special-vehicular-terrorism-keeping-city-cops-on-toes-2535642