A shooting during a concert took place in the Palace of the Fair in Plovdiv, a terrorist act was created for educational purposes

The training situation on Tuesday evening covered employees from the various structures of the internal department – Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Regional Directorate “Fire Safety and Protection of the Population”, Zonal Gendarmerie Directorate, GDBOP, “Communication and Information Systems” sectors, “Basic Scientific and Technical Laboratory” ” and “Psycholaboratory” and Medical Institute.

In the large-scale exercise, a search group of the Military Police Regional Office, teams of the Center for Emergency Medical Assistance, volunteers from the Bulgarian Red Cross, DANS, District and Regional Prosecutor’s Offices, the Municipality of Plovdiv and the Regional Administration took part.

For educational purposes, an act of terrorism was recreated at the International Fair, in which armed men broke into the concert hall No. 2 and started shooting at the audience. The report of the incident was received at the ODMVR – Plovdiv and an operational headquarters was immediately formed under the direction of the director with the participation of representatives of all responding services. After getting acquainted with the operational situation, the headquarters begins to coordinate the actions of the teams in the field.

Police cordon off the area and secure the scene. With “Desert Cat” armored vehicles, the RS “Military Police” group neutralized and detained the perpetrators. The people from the hall are taken out and the injured are given medical assistance. Support also comes from the volunteers of the BCH and the psychologists of the Ministry of the Interior. At the same time, the perimeter is being thoroughly checked with sniffer dogs for an explosion, and fire officials are scanning the area for poisonous substances and gases. Subsequently, the work on the case is continued by the investigators, the prosecutor’s office and specialized services.

The main emphasis of the session was checking the readiness for reaction of the involved services when the counter-terrorism plan is activated and playing its various elements that require quick communication and coordination. The opportunity is also used when conducting such tactical actions in real time to identify possible gaps and to develop ways to overcome them.