Dummy bombs placed to check police alertness in Kovai

The bombs, which appeared like improvised explosive devices (IED) were placed in front of Saibaba Colony police station on Monday early morning hours and Variety Hall Road police station on Tuesday past midnight.

Acting on a call to the control room, the police teams acted swiftly and bomb detection examined to find the objects to be fake ones. They were merely similar boxes with wires attached to a battery without any explosive substance and kept in front of the stations.

It was later known that they were fake IED’s placed on the directions of senior police officers to check the alertness of local police in the wake of communal tension. More than 1,500 cops have been deployed to maintain enhanced vigil following attacks on members of two communities in Coimbatore.

Moreover, a total of 80 cops roped in from armed reserve police from city and rural areas were chosen discreetly and deployed in sensitive areas in plain clothes to check the alertness of the city police during night hours.

Of them, the city police caught 20 decoys during patrol, but let them off later on knowing their identity. A series of such measures comes after the assistant commissioner of police of Special Intelligence Cell monitoring communal issues was shunted out after religious outfits blamed failure of intelligence network to be the reason for communal flare up in Coimbatore city.