Police show anti-hijacking skills

Two special operations teams of the Police Aviation Security Group yesterday stormed a hijacked plane at the tarmac of the Mactan Cebu International Airport, neutralized the hijackers, and successfully rescued the hostages.

K-9 units also sifted through the luggage in the plane and found a bag with a bomb. All these however were just an exercise to test the capability of policemen assigned at airports.

Chief Supt. Jesus Gordon Descanzo, chief of the Aviation Security Group, said the drill was to test the capability of special operations units (SOUs) to secure an aircraft with passengers from a terrorist or terrorist groups.

“We have at least once a year regular exercise like this, but we still have to conduct one in Davao, because this depends on the availability of a plane from the private group,” said Descanzo.

After the exercise, he said he planned to create a response team similar to the Manila team in the Visayas./Correspondents Norman Mendoza and Chito Aragon