Brussels terror attack: Counter-terror agency reviews Mumbai’s security

“Unlike Brussels where the footfall would be a couple of thousand people, in Mumbai, the crowd at a railway station runs into tens of thousands and during peak hours, it runs into lakhs. Therefore, a decision to shut down the train services or close the entry and exit point would be a tough call. Such call has to be taken on the spot depending on the situation and gauging the priority and requirement at that hour. Setting up a standard operating procedure will not serve any purpose ,” a senior official said.

Watch Brussels Attack Condemnable, Says PM Modi

On Tuesday, Brussels, Belgium’s capital, was rocked by a series of terror attacks killing over 30 people and injuring over 174. The attacks came just days after the capture of Europe’s most -wanted man Salah Abdeslam for November’s Paris attack. The attack also took place close to the heels of the 13th India-European Union Summit scheduled on March 30 in Belgium.

“Back home, other than the issue of dealing with high footfall, the other herculean task would be to identify if there is a situation of multiple attacks, which could be the possible ‘next’ location? Our priority at that hour of crisis would be to ensure that there are no serial attacks and if there are, then we should be able to neutralise them,” added the official.

Since the target of the Tuesday attack were Zaventem aiport and Maelbeek metro station, the security around the airport, railway and metro stations across Maharashtra were discussed at length during the meet. “The large portion of the slum area faces the airstrip from where the flight takes off and lands, making it very vulnerable to terror strike. Manning them is impossible as it offers enormous anonymity. We have pressed our network of informants and the locals also keep us informed about any uncommon activity or a stranger spotted in the area,” the official added.

While the agency will study the attack as a part of the routine exercise it has undertaken to identify the lacunas and learn from the loopholes so that those are punctured in case of a similar attack back home, the initial assessment by the Maharashtra ATS points towards an intelligence failure on part of the Belgium Police, to keep a check on the youth who would have possibly travelled to the Middle East in the last months.