China’s elite anti-hijacking forces to live and train in Shanghai airport as security tightened
China’s very first squad set up to counter plane hijackings has officially moved to its new base in Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport.
Beginning this week, the 140 or so members of the squad, affiliated with the No 9 Brigade of the Chinese People’s Armed Police Force in Shanghai, would train and live at the new base, news portal Chinanews.com reported.
Set up in July 2002, the unit is responsible for countering aircraft hijackings in 20 airports in eastern China’s Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Anhui, according to earlier Chinese media reports. The team is also trained to deal with other high-pressure situations including terrorist attacks.
Airports across China have stepped up security measures since 2001 in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
China has faced the rising threat of terrorism over the past decade.
The Chinese government says this is especially so in western Xinjiang, which is home to millions of Muslim Uyghurs.
Beijing has blamed a string of violent attacks in recent years on Muslim separatists in the region. But human rights activists say the authorities’ intense crackdown on religious and cultural freedom is the real reason behind the violence.
In a case in 2012, crew members and passengers on board a Tianjin Airlines flight from Hotan to Urumqi in Xinjiang foiled a hijacking attempt.
Six men were reportedly subdued by passengers and a group of policemen who happened to be on the plane, Xinhua reported. No one was injured in the incident.
The Chinese government blamed the foiled hijacking attempt on Islamic separatists.
