The Cricket West Indies (CWI) has sought to allay fears of security threat to the Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies even as the Caribbean islands have received terror alerts to the global event from North Pakistan.
“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,” Jonny Graves, the CEO of the CWI told Cricbuzz on Sunday evening.
The security alert states that, “Pro-Islamic State (IS) media sources have launched campaigns inciting violence against sporting events, which included video messages from the Afghanistan-Pakistan branch, ISKhorasan (IS-K) which highlighted assaults in numerous countries and urged supporters to join the battlefield in their countries.”
The Caribbean media reported that the authorities are tracking potential threats to the World Cup. “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,” Graves further told this website.
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The Twenty20 World Cup is scheduled to take place in the West Indies and the US from June 1 to 29.
A report in Trinidad’s Daily Express quoted that island’s Prime Minister Keith Rowley as saying that the Caricom and security agencies are working to combat the threat to the World Cup. It has been further reported that the Barbados regional security officials are monitoring potential threats to the ICC event.
It has been reported that intelligence of a potential threat to the World Cup has been received through Pro-Islamic State (Daesh) through the media group “Nashir Pakistan”. According to Daily Express, Nashir-e Pakistan is an Islamic State group-affiliated propaganda channel.
In the West Indies, the World Cup matches will be held in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago. There are matches in the US cities of Florida, New York and Texas too but there is no indication of any threat to the games in the USA. The two semifinals will be played in Trinidad and Guyana with the final slated for Barbados.
When contacted, the ICC said its statement is the same as that of the CWI’s.
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