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Terror test at Nando’s
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ARMED police stormed a Nando’s restaurant in an anti-terror exercise.
“Victims” were strewn across the floor as emergency services trained to deal with “marauding gunmen”.
The drill on Sunday was not publicised by police to make it as realistic as possible. Dozens of armed officers surrounded the Merry Hill shopping centre in Brierley Hill, Dudley, West Mids, for three hours.
They took up positions around Nando’s as helicopters hovered overhead. Paramedics treated “wounded” actors and West Midlands Fire Service also took part.
Worried residents tweeted to ask what was happening. One wrote: “What’s going on at Merry Hill? Never seen so many police cars!”
Another joked: “I think I’ll avoid having a cheeky Nando’s tonight!”.
A police spokesman said the area was “tightly controlled” and there was no risk to the public.
Assistant Chief Constable Marcus Beale said: “Exercises like this are important as they enable us to test our ability to deal with largescale incidents.”
He stressed it “was not based on any threat or intelligence”, but added the wave of European terror attacks “highlighted the importance” of testing responses.
Britain’s secret services are investigating at least four terror threats.
Shopping centres and stadiums are seen as high-risk targets since a double bomb blast outside the Besiktas football ground in Istanbul, Turkey, killed 38 in December. A gunman in Munich killed nine people in a shopping mall in July, and 130 died in shootings in Paris in November, 2015.
Judge Max Hill QC, leading the independent review of terrorism laws, said Britain faces its biggest threat since the 1970s IRA bombings.
He revealed “enormous concern” over British jihadis returning from Syria after fighting for Isis.