Over 10,000 policemen from different parts of Gujarat have been deployed at strategic locations in Ahmedabad as part of the elaborate security arrangements for U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit in Ahmedabad on February 24, officials said.
The massive police deployment is in addition to officials of the United States Secret Service, and India’s elite National Security Guards (NSG) and Special Protection Group (SPG) who would also be guarding the U.S. President’s visit.
The Secret Service agents, along with other U.S. security personnel, have already arrived with their equipment and vehicles in at least four cargo planes during the last one week.
Mr. Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take part in a 22-km roadshow from the Ahmedabad international airport and then proceed for the ‘Namaste Trump’ event at the newly-built Sardar Patel Stadium in the city’s Motera area, where over one lakh people are expected to be present.
Police will be using the anti-drone technology to neutralise any suspicious drone on the route, officials said, adding that an anti-sniper team of the NSG will also be stationed along the roadshow route, starting from the airport till the Motera stadium via Indira bridge.
With the help of sophisticated hand-held devices, the entire route has been scanned several times by the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad.
Police and other security agencies have also conducted a rehearsal on the entire roadshow route using over 100 vehicles, they said.
Along with police personnel, who will be led by 25 IPS officers, teams of the Rapid Action Force, State Reserve Police, Chetak Commando and Anti-Terrorist Squad are also deployed at strategic locations.
Before the U.S. President’s arrival, at least four C17 Globemaster cargo planes of the U.S. Air Force have landed at the Ahmedabad international airport with security and communication equipment, Mr. Trump's official helicopter ‘Marine One’ and a mammoth SUV-like vehicle.
The giant SUV, which would be part of Mr. Trump’s cavalcade during his 22-km long roadshow on February 24, is known as WHCA Roadrunner. WHCA stands for White House Communications Agency.
The Roadrunner vehicle, also known as the MC2V (mobile command and control vehicle), serves as a mobile communication hub for the presidential motorcade by encrypting duplex radio and streaming video, which in-turn is beamed to a military satellite that sends the data back to the ground.