Brussels Airport to get its own swat team from 2017

The Brussels Airport security personnel will from next year receive the help of a rapid response team (SRT) of police agents specially trained to intervene in the case of suspicious activity. The main objective of the new team will be to intercept and disable terrorists, write Het Laatste Nieuws and De Morgen.

It was announced last month that a 'shield' of security cameras will be installed to monitor all access roads to the airport in order to detect suspicious vehicles and alert a specialised group of officers. The SRT is part of that group, and will be on stand-by at all times, ready to assess the situation and act if necessary.

“The members will be selected soon,” says Olivier Van Raemdonck, spokesman for interior minister Jan Jambon. "They will receive specific training, including arrest techniques, and will be more heavily armed than a normal officer.”

The SRT, which emerged as a direct result of the 22 March terror attacks at Brussels Airport, is to intervene in emergency situations in anticipation of the arrival of elite units. The team will start working at the airport in the first weeks of 2017.