MUMBAI – A massive security operation has been mounted for Saturday’s cricket World Cup final in Mumbai — the highest-profile sporting event to be held in the city since the deadly 2008 militant attacks.
Although no specific threat has been made for the match between India and Sri Lanka, Mumbai Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik said he would prefer to take no chances with the safety of players and spectators. “We will be overdoing it a bit,” he admitted at a news conference in the city on Thursday.
“But it’s better to be on the safe side. The stakes are high.” Security has been increased in India’s financial capital since the 2008 attacks, which saw 10 heavily-armed Islamist militants storm landmark targets, including three luxury hotels, in the south of the city. A total of 166 people were killed and more than 300 were injured.
The Mumbai police were criticised at the time but have since handled security for a number of high-profile dignitaries, notably Barack Obama, who began his first visit to India as US president in the city last year. The force has also successfully policed two Ganesha festivals, which every year see hundreds of thousands of Hindus throng the streets with idols of the revered four-armed, elephant-headed god.
For the World Cup final, to be attended by Indian President Pratibha Patil and her Sri Lankan counterpart, Mahinda Rajapakse, Patnaik said some 3,500 personnel will be deployed inside and outside the Wankhede Stadium. They include the police’s own rapid reaction force and paramilitary troops from the same commando unit that stormed the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel in 2008 to end a 60-hour siege by four of the gunmen.
