Organisation for Counter Terrorist Operations

The Organisation for Counter Terrorist Operations (OCTOPUS) is an elite counter terrorism joint unit of the Andhra Pradesh Police in the state of Andhra Pradesh & and the Telangana Police in the state of Telangana in India.^[1][2]

Organisation for Counter Terrorist Operations
Abbreviation	OCTOPUS
Agency overview
Formed	1 October, 2007
Employees	1700[1]
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction	Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, India
General nature	Local civilian police
Specialist jurisdiction	Counter terrorism, special weapons operations. Protection of internationally protected persons, other very important persons, and/or of state property of significance.
Operational structure
Headquarters	Khalsa Ibrahimpatnam Village, Hyderabad, India

History

On 1 October 2007, the Andhra Pradesh cabinet approved the formation of OCTOPUS.^[3]

Headquarters

OCTOPUS Commando Training Center was inaugurated on 13 August 2012, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy at Khalsa Ibrahimpatnam Village near Hyderabad, with 570 acres land area. Before this, they had been based at a makeshift headquarters.^[4][1]

Achievements

• AP OCTOPUS commandos have secured first place in a competition conducted by NSG under the scheme Agni Pariksha 7 in 2021.
• They won the championship by scoring more points than NSG and other elite security forces in the competition. ^[5]

Training

The commandos are trained in handling sophisticated weapons such as Glock-19 pistols, Colt 9mm SMG, Franchi SPAS-15 dual mode shotguns, sniper rifles, taser guns and corner shot systems.

On 16 November 2012, tenders were invited for the supply of a sample jet pack unit to the OCTOPUS. Plans have been made to acquire more jetpacks in the future.^[6][7]

Organisation and role

About 100 OCTOPUS personnel have been deployed at the Tirumala Venkateswara temple to oversee the temple security.^[4][1]

Deployment

• October 2013 armed terrorists in Puttur of Chittoor district in the erstwhile AP

After Telangana formation

• July 2017 Muthoot Finance at Happy Homes apartment complex armed robbery.^[8]

After bifurcation

Of the 1590 commandos for the OCTOPUS, the force was divided on the basis of options exercised by the staff^[9]

See also

• Greyhounds (police)
• Force One
• Special Tactical Unit

References

1. "Andhra anti-terror force Octopus gets its headquarters". NDTV. 13 August 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
2. "Octopus conducts mock drill at Telangana High Court". Telangana Today. 15 December 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
3. "OCTOPUS - Andhra Pradesh's terror response". Rediff. 1 October 2007. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
4. "Kiran opens Octopus headquarters". The Hindu. 14 August 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
5. "AP Octopus force tops national level meet".
6. "AP cops plan to fly into James Bond era". The New Indian Express. 23 November 2012. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
7. "Andhra Pradesh police plan to fight terror on the fly". The New Indian Express. 26 November 2012. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
8. Hareesh, P (5 July 2017). "OCTOPUS faces its second major Op after formation". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
9. "AP Reorganization Act, 2014".