With the spate of insecurity seemingly unabating in the oil-rich Rivers State, the state�s Police Command has deployed an anti-terrorist squad to police the Port Harcourt International Airport in Omagwa and environs as traffic in and out of the airport gradually builds up after it was reopened late last year.
The anti-terrorist squad is detailed to respond to threats to airport users, and intermittently patrol the road linking the airport with the city.
The deployment of the anti-terrorist squad, THISDAY gathered, is to avert any premeditated or sudden attempt at kidnapping or attacking airport users, particularly with the resumption of flights in and out of the airport by some foreign airlines.
The source noted that as part of the security measures in and out of the airport, the management of the airport has also dislodged activities, which provide ready incentives for militant groups to carry out their activities.
According to him, clustering within the airport environment is no longer tolerated, just as serious restrictions on movement have been placed within the airport, particularly for those who have no business at the airport.
A source who is at the centre of the deployment said that the Rivers State Government recently donated some patrol vehicles to the state police command, which in turn deployed the squad with some of the trucks to enable it patrol the airport and its environs.
The source said since kidnapping and militancy have become a threat to security in the state, the government and the police command are working round the clock to nip the activities of perpetrators in the bud.
Meanwhile, officials of the Rivers State Government and other stakeholders have met with youths from Etche in Etche Local Government of the state to dissuade them from indulging in kidnapping.
The youths, it was gathered, were mobilising to join the bandwagon, seen as a fast way of making money, when information filtered into official quarters.
A top government official said that a meeting was quickly convened last Thursday at an undisclosed venue in the local government to dissuade the youths from joining the fray.
It was not clear as to what kind of carrot or incentives that were dangled before the youths even as other details of the meeting could not be gathered.
Jun12008