HCMC drill sketches possible terrorism scenarios

The drill will sketch out four hypothetical scenarios: terrorists inciting and provoking people via online platforms to create groups to overthrow the government; the Tan Son Nhat International Airport is sabotaged; hundreds of people use motorbikes to parade on the streets and attack state offices and foreign affairs agencies; and terrorists take over state offices, hold hostages and threaten to kill them, use chemical weapons.

Officials said the exercise will see the police and military deploy many modern devices and weapons for the first time.

"We want to test the response of city state agencies to terrorism situations and ensuing damages that are undesirable, but could happen," Colonel Nguyen Sy Quang, deputy director of the municipal police department, said Thursday.

The exercise will take place from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Sunday and traffic will be restricted on Hai Ba Trung, Nguyen Dinh Chieu, Nam Ky Khoi Nghia and Nguyen Du Streets in Districts 1 and 3.

Under the Vietnamese law, the maximum penalty for terrorism, or conducting activities to overthrow the government is death.

Last year, 15 people were detained for suspected involvement in explosions at a ward police station in the city’s Binh Chanh District in June.

A HCMC court in December 2017 sentenced 15 Vietnamese to between five and 16 years in prison for trying to set fire to the Tan Son Nhat Airport using petrol bombs under instructions from an overseas 'subversive' group.