How India's VVIP security units learnt lessons from Shinzo Abe assassination, introduced changes

New Delhi: Security units of two Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), CRPF and CISF, which protect almost all VVIPs such as union home minister Amit Shah, Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, BJP president JP Nadda, etc, have analysed lapses that led to the assassination of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe.

According to the senior officials, the study has found various grave oversights.

Though officials say that Indian central agencies never commit such lapses, reports have been prepared to introduce relevant changes.

Sources told News18 that the top brass of both forces has also tweaked training patterns to avoid even a trivial mistake while protecting the VVIPs. The CRPF is also thinking of purchasing additional equipment to carry while guarding the protectees.

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Abe died after he was shot while addressing a gathering in Japan’s Nara city during an electoral campaign on July 8.

A person in his 40s named Yamagami Tetsuya killed the former Japanese premier with a handmade pistol.

Authorities at the Nara Medical University Hospital said that the former prime minister was treated for more than 4.5 hours but doctors were unable to save his life. He was bleeding profusely and blood transfusions were given to him but to no avail.

Lapses found

According to senior CRPF officials, the assassination of Shinzo Abe was possible due to extremely poor security cover.

The analysis accessed by News18 says that when the killer fired, security personnel failed to open the ballistic suitcase. “The suitcase is a very important piece of equipment to stop the bullet. The suitcase is extremely lightweight and provides front protection from all kinds of bullets including 9mm, 7.62, etc. It has a feature like fast unfolding in case of any attack," a senior official told News18.

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Similarly, another lapse was that all security personnel were looking in the same direction, front, and no one was deployed to give protection from the back. Normally, security personnel look in all directions and it is not allowed to look in a different direction than the one assigned, the official said.

Also, when the attacker fired the first round, no security cover was given to the former prime minister and he was completely exposed to the next bullet. Normally, security personnel cover the protectee from all directions along with different types of equipment.

Then, a lapse was found in the evacuation system of the security of Shinzo Abe. When the attacker fired, the reaction time of the security personnel was very long and there was no attempt to evacuate the former PM.

Plugging loopholes

Following this, the CRPF and CISF have made changes in the security of VVIPs. According to sources, the CRPF which protects almost all ministers, leaders of the opposition, etc, has planned to keep more ballistic suitcases. The official refused to divulge any more information and said, “There is a possibility that the ballistic suitcase may not open; in that case, we will have more suitcases similar to PM’s security. For that, we are preparing a proposal to enhance the number of such suitcases."

Similarly, an equal number of troops will be deployed in all directions, most likely in a circular fashion. Also, various changes have been introduced in evacuation training in case of an attack. Troops have been rehearsing to give a safe passage to the protectee in case of such an assassination attempt.

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