Cricket West Indies (CWI) has acknowledged a security threat alert received with respect to the T20 World Cup set to take place in the Caribbean and the USA from June 1 to 29. However, CWI has assured safety amids the security risks and mentioned that it will work closely with the island nations across the Caribbean to mitigate any such threat for smooth scheduling of the marquee event.
As per a Cricbuzz report, the threat came from Pakistan to the Caribbean Islands with IS trying to incite violence and disrupt sporting events for the fulfilment of their agenda. "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 security threat was quoted in the report.
CWI CEO Jonny Graves assured the safety and security of every stakeholder at the T20 World Cup saying that they have an elaborate security plan in place for the tournament.
The report further stated that the intelligence of the security threat came from IS propaganda channel Nashir-e-Pakistan.
The tournament is set to take place at six venues in the Caribbean namely, Antigua and Barbuda, St Lucia, Guyana, Trinidad, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Barbados along with three venues in the United States of America, Dallas, Florida and New York. The threat is limited to the Caribbean islands.
The US venues share the hosting duties with the Caribbean islands for the group stage featuring 20 teams in four groups of five each before the latter take over completely for the Super Eight and semis and the final. Guyana and Trinidad will host the two semi-finals on June 26 and 27 before the final in Barbados on June 29.
