Paradip, Oct. 4: The armed forces today conducted an exercise to demonstrate their preparedness to counter possible terror strikes besides infiltration and sea-route smuggling in a joint security exercise. The drill, ‘Madad-12’, took place off the Paradip coast.

Well-knit coordination of the army, the navy and the air force was in evidence in the drilling exercise.

“It is a security drill that aims at protecting the country from nefarious activities by subversive elements. As Paradip is a major industrial hub of Odisha, organising such exercises here are of paramount importance,” said additional district magistrate Surajit Das.

This region has a coast guard base. Steps are under way on part of the ministry of defence to set up a naval base in Paradip, he added.

Orchestrated efforts are being made to make the army familiar with the standard operating procedures of the on-shore and off-shore security mechanism. “The focus of this venture is to inculcate combative spirit among the agencies involved in coastal security,” said an official who was monitoring the exercise.

A mock rescue effort was carried out in which people held hostage by terror forces were freed from a multi-storey building. The realism was such that people were left wondering whether it was a real or mock event. The show began with sea-route chase. Then the area was besieged by armed forces. There was heavy exchange of fire following which the army troops stormed the building. The final rescue act was enacted by air force copters, said inspector of Paradip police station, Anil Mishra.

“The scenes of terror strike were enacted through a fierce mid-sea battle. The ‘anti-national’ forces penetrated the security ring to perpetrate an attack similar to the Mumbai terror strike while the security personnel masquerading as terror groups were intercepted by agile and vigilant coastal security forces,” said Mishra.

The warships of the navy and the air force fighter planes and highly improvised interceptor vessels and army tanks were on the job for mock counter insurgency operations and terror strikes.