Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Trinidad Prime Minister Keith Rowley has revealed that the T20 World Cup in the Americas has received a terror threat but the International Cricket Council (ICC) assured that a “comprehensive and robust security plan” is in place to “mitigate any risks” to the showpiece beginning June 1.
The tournament—featuring 20 teams, including India—is scattered across nine venues, six of them in the West Indies, the media reported on Monday.
The threat seemed specific to the West Indies, which aside from some preliminary matches, will be hosting the entire Super 8 stage along with the semifinals and the final on June 29.
“Unfortunately, the threat of terrorism in its many and varied expressions is an ever-present danger in the world of the 21st century,” Dr. Rowley was quoted as saying by “Trinidad Daily Express.”
He did not name any organization but reports here stated that the Islamic State (IS) issued the threat through its propaganda channel.
The ICC responded to the development with a statement assuring preparedness.
“Safety and security of everyone at the event is our number one priority and we have a comprehensive and robust security plan in place,” a spokesperson of the global body said.
“We work closely with authorities in our host countries and continually monitor and evaluate the global landscape to ensure appropriate plans are in place to mitigate any risks identified to our event.”
Dr. Rowley said “extra effort in national security preparations and response readiness” will be put in to neutralize the danger.
“Given the fact that bad actors can choose to misbehave in any way possible, it makes it virtually impossible to completely seal off all opportunities,” he said.
“However, to ameliorate these dangers, we at the local and regional levels have remained alert to many threats and singularly or together have our intelligence and other security agencies working to protect the population in countries and at venues throughout the tournament,” he added.
The World Cup matches in the West Indies will be held in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago. The US leg will feature games in Florida, New York, and Texas.
New York will host the marquee India-Pakistan clash on June 9.
Cricket West Indies said everything is being done to ensure foolproof security at the mega-event.
“We work closely with authorities in the host countries and cities, and continually monitor and evaluate the global landscape to ensure appropriate plans are in place to mitigate any risks identified to our event,” CWI CEO Jonny Graves said.
“We want to assure all stakeholders that the safety and security of everyone at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is our number one priority and we have a comprehensive and robust security plan in place,” he added.