Vijayawada: OCTOPUS team stands first in national level Counter Terrorist Exercise

Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh OCTOPUS (Organisation for Counter Terrorist Operations) team made the State proud by securing the first place in Agni Pariksha-7 in the National Joint (CT) Counter Terrorist Exercise organised at Haryana's NSG Manesar from September 13 to October 9.

Under the leadership of P Jaggu Naidu, DSP the team excelled in various activities. A Papa Rao HC - 507 won the overall championship in the exercise and won appreciation from the DGP D Gautam Sawang.

The Joint Exercise covered various tough exercises like long and short firing with sophisticated weapons, detection of IEDS, bus / train / room intervention, surveillance, point to point movement, target reconnaissance, hostage negotiation, building / vehicle search, VIP security etc. In addition, they have also gone under physical proficiency test, IQ and memory test to assess the mental ability. The Andhra Pradesh OCTOPUS team excelled in various physical and mental activities and won the first place.

OCTOPUS was established in the year 2007 in the then A.P after the twin blasts occurred in Hyderabad with intelligence, investigation and operations wing and re-organised in July 2010 as an elite 'Commando Unit'. The work force was trained on par with NSG to Combat with the terrorists, hostage rescue, evacuation in emergencies, VIP security, rescue operation during disasters.

OCTOPUS is having two operational hubs deployed at TTD, Tirumala to augment the security of hill shrine, one dedicated team was deployed at Gannavaram Airport for any untoward incidents and a high security team for the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

DGP Gautam Sawang while addressing media conference at the State police office on Tuesday showered praise on the State OCTOPUS unit for winning the first place in national competitions. He said about 500 commandoes are in Andhra Pradesh OCTOPUS unit and underlined the need to increase it further to meet the future requirements.

He said Andhra Pradesh OCTOPUS team excels in night firing and pistol firing and other commando activities. Sawang felt there is a need to develop infrastructure facilities, logistics facilities and training facilities to make OCTOPUS to match the international standards in counter terrorism operations.

He said grey hounds is for combating in the rural areas and OCTOPUS is for the urban areas and two have separate set up and functioning. The OCTOPUS team members, who participated in the national meet thanked the DGP for extending support and encouragement.