A significant security challenge was issued for the city of Bangalore, Karnataka on Sunday when an explosive material threat was found along a route that the Prime Minister ofIndia, Mr Narendra Modi, would be travelling through during his visit to the state. Authorities located two sticks of gelatin near the PM’s convoy route to the Art of Living International Centre, located on the outskirts of Bangalore, causing security agencies and the bomb squad to respond immediately.
Authorities Recovered Explosives at Location of Prime Minister’s Scheduled Movement
Authorities have confirmed that the two recovered sticks of gelatin were found in the area of Thathaguni in the Kaggalipura local jurisdiction of Bangalore, which is located nearby the route that the PM was travelling between his appearance at the 45th anniversary of the Art of Living organisation and where he will be performing the ceremony.
The discovery of these explosive materials was immediately flagged by authorities as a security concern due to the layered security that is assigned to the PM as a result of the Special Protect Group (SPG), Karnataka Police, and intelligence agencies being required to build multiple layers of security to provide protection for the PM as he moves along his assigned route.
In response to the discovery of the gelatin sticks, authorities quickly established a perimeter around the area and conducted extensive searches of the area for the purpose of ensuring that additional explosive materials did not exist.
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Threat Call Led Police to Suspicious Material
Last monday, there was an unexplained explosion at an airport in Bangalore, India (HAL). Police said that the explosion may have been related to two similar incidents where bombs went off at two different locations – at the Art of Living venue and near HAL Airport. After investigating these separate explosions, they connected the two incidents based on the phone call made by the suspects.
Police arrested a man from nearby Koramangala, Bengaluru (identified only as “the suspect”) after he was found to have previously called in similar hoax bomb threats during other high-profile visits to Bangalore and at various other times since they first started occurring there before he was released for being “mentally ill.”
Given the seriousness of this event (due to actual explosives being recovered), police are working to determine whether this individual had acted alone or was part of a larger conspiracy involving others.
In addition to discovering the gelatin sticks, the examination also will be looking to identify if there was any effort to disrupt the Prime Minister’s programme by obtaining gelatin sticks through some sort of organised manner.
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Security in Bengaluru has been increased
Since the gelatin sticks were located, security has increased substantially in Bengaluru. Extra police officers, bomb disposal units, sniffer dogs, and anti-sabotage teams were sent to all locations associated with the Prime Minister’s itinerary.
Traffic patterns had been modified previous to Modi’s arrival and therefore commuters were advised of the traffic changes and of the increased level of security screening that they would be required to undergo.
Officials from law enforcement related to the discovery of these suspicious materials stated that the discovery of the materials had occurred prior to the movement of the Prime Minister’s convoy and therefore had no immediate affect on the event once sanitised.
Political and Public Reactions
Concerns about the safety of security for VIPs and how we monitor people who have done things like this before were brought about based on this incident, according to Security Experts. Using even a low-level explosive (such as gel sticks/bombs) in the wrong way can cause panic, create danger and generally be a problem if there are more people around to hear it.
Political observers and leaders from the opposition party questioned the ability of someone to have access to explosive materials so close to a major route with strict security measures.
Police are asking people to stop spreading lies and that they will be conducting full investigations into this matter — including reviewing all available video footage through the use of CCTV systems as well as reviewing mobile phone call records from those involved. Reviewing this information about the suspect will help them with their investigation.
