Azerbaijan to deploy unprecedented security measures for Islamic Solidarity Games

Unprecedented security measures are going to be put in place in Azerbaijan for the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games, the organizing committee announced at the final planning meeting before the Games due on 12-22 May.

More than 12,000 police, including 252 women, will be deployed, the news agency APA reported, citing head of the interior ministry’s public security department Ogtay Kerimov. 154 X-ray machines and 286 metal detectors will be installed at all points of entry to the guarded territory, and 600 Motorola mobile base stations will be used.

According to the chief of the special state security service Vagif Akhundov, 1,560 law enforcers were vetted, and 107 of them were barred from the events as a result, after some compromising information about them had been found. He did not specify what the information was.

Over 3,000 athletes from 57 countries are going to take part in the Games;

The Games feature 23 sports and will last for ten days; 1,600 medals will be on offer to the competitors;

The Games are expected to attract more than a billion spectators in 50 countries;

Two Karabakhi horses named Jasur (“Brave”) and Inja (“Tender”), respectively, are the official mascots of the Games.