To give more teeth to the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) in dealing with any possible terror attack or any other kind of eventuality, a Special Police Operations Team (SPOT) has been constituted.

The team will help in expediting cases and investigation, besides assisting in cyber monitoring of people involved in terror activities. It will also help in the de-radicalising activities, the ATS said in a release.

The consent for the formation of the SPOT was given yesterday by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The team would initially have 694 posts, while 316 more posts would be created for the ATS for quick intelligence compilation, internet monitoring and investigation of events, the release said.

Currently, there are 264 posts in the ATS.

The vision behind this move was to transform the Uttar Pradesh Police into a world-class team in dealing with dangerous operations, the release added.

The SPOT unit would improve the basic police tactics and also develop units in the districts, it said.

“The new force will be ready to deal with bold attacks (attacks on CRPF camps in Rampur, Ayodhya and Pathankot), an abduction and hostage crisis and a bomb attack situation,” the ATS said.

Specialised commando training would be given to the team members for countering the ultras, rescuing the victims during any such attack and also for foiling a subversive activity by responding to an intelligence input in the shortest possible time, it added.

The nature of the team would be that of a high-risk operation team, the release said.

The SPOT team would work on the lines of the National Security Guard (NSG) and would be the fastest response team in Uttar Pradesh in cases of subversive activities.

“Every team will have a sniper unit, bomb disposal experts, a dog squad and two communication officers. The drivers will also be trained as fighters and will be imparted paramedical training as well,” the ATS said.

In future, the force would be developed to tackle hijacking, climbing up and down a rope from a helicopter and have better capacities for night operations.

The SPOT commandos will use vehicles fitted with latest weaponry and other gadgets to counter any kind of a terror attack.

The SPOT will be headed by an officer of deputy inspector general of police rank, who will work as per directions from the additional director general and inspector general of the ATS.