The team will also use that experience in a large-scale exercise here, to be held some time in the next three months, simulating an attack similar to what happened in the Indian city.

One of the lessons - and recommended security measures - was the need to have crisis management teams in buildings which could provide information to the authorities as well as evacuate people.

Other measures include random checks on guests and restricting access to guest floors through the use of card keys.

The Singapore Police Force's director of operations, Assistant Commissioner Wong Hong Kuan, who led the team, told reporters seaborne threats were also being looked into, as the Mumbai attackers entered the city by boat.

He was speaking to reporters at the National Security Briefing, a special briefing for the business community, yesterday at Suntec City Mall's Rock Auditorium.

It was attended by more than 1,000 business managers, many of them from the hotel industry. Hotels told The Straits Times that they had beefed up security measures against possible attacks since five-star hotels were the targets in Mumbai.

These include training staff to be on alert for suspicious activity and to report it immediately to hotel security personnel.

'But we are eager to learn more,' said chief security officer Lee Boon Meng of Concorde Hotel, who attended the briefing.

He said that the closed-circuit TV system at the hotel now has remote access to an unnamed location so that real-time footage can be viewed if the control room is disabled.

Read the full story in today's edition of The Straits Times.