The West Zone Task Force on Tuesday conducted ‘decoy operations’ at various shopping malls in the zone and found security lapses. The police personnel were sent to the malls with weapons, but the guards at the malls failed to identify them and allowed them entry.

The managements of these have been served notices for not having proper security in place. N. Koti Reddy, additional deputy commissioner of police, Task Force, said, decoys carrying weapons like 9mm pistol and grenade were sent into shopping malls, including Brand Factory in Toli Chowki, Reliance Mart in Toli Chowki, R.S. Brothers and Chandana Brothers at Mehdipatnam under the Langer Houz, Humayunnagar and Asifnagar police station limits.

“Though weapons were being carried into the malls, the security personnel were not alert and could not stop the decoys. Other lapses including no proper frisking, missing surveillance cameras, etc. were also found” said a task force official.