Port of Spain: The T20 World Cup, to be co-hosted by the USA and West Indies, has received a terror threat, Trinidad’s Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has revealed but asserted that “extra effort in national security preparations and response readiness” will be put in to neutralise the danger.
The tournament — featuring 20 teams, including India — is due to start June 1. As of now, the threat, according to media reports, is 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 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,” Rowley was quoted as saying by ‘Trinidad Daily Express’ here.
Rowley did not specifically name any organisation but reports here stated that the Islamic State made the threat through its propaganda channel.
“It is against this backdrop that all nations, like our region, when hosting large or vulnerable gatherings, make an extra effort in national security preparations and response readiness to take seriously, all threats, expressed or implied,” he added.
Rowley said the event, which is scattered across nine venues, six of them in the West Indies, will be closely monitored throughout its duration to ensure there is no security breach.
“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, in order 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 the 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 June 9.
Reacting to the development, 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 told ‘Cricbuzz’.
“We want to assure all stakeholders that 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.
When the ICC was contacted for a response, its representatives said that their stand is similar to CWI.