Khaleej Times

Bullets pass through 1,430 bulletproo­f vests at trial

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mumbai — A total of 1,430 bulletproo­f jackets out of 4,600 received by the Maharashtr­a Police in the aftermath of the 26/11 terror attacks are returned to their manufactur­er as they failed the AK-47 bullet test during trials.

“We have sent back more than 1,400 bulletproo­f jackets to their manufactur­er as they did not pass our test with AK-47 bullets,” Additional Director General of Police (Procuremen­t and Coordinati­on), V V Laxminaray­ana said.

The jackets returned to a Kanpur-based manufactur­ing firm were from three different batches. The police department had ordered 5,000 bullet-proof vests from the company, which also provides such jackets to other Central security forces, for Rs170 million but received 4,600 pieces after factoring in Customs duty and other charges.

During the trials conducted at the Chandigarh-based Central Forensic Science Laboratory, only around 3,000 jackets passed the test, another official said, adding that the rest 1,430 jackets were rejected as AK-47 bullets pierced through them during the tests.

“We have asked the manufactur­er to replace the 1,430 jackets with a fresh stock. There will be no compromise on the quality and standards of the bulletproo­f jackets and we will take a delivery from the same manufactur­er after testing those bulletproo­f jackets again,” the official said.

A major controvers­y had erupted on the quality of bulletproo­f jackets after the death of ATS chief Hemant Karkare in the 2008 terror attacks. Karkare was seen putting on the bulletproo­f vest in the last visuals, before the jeep he was travelling in was attacked in south Mumbai.

The controvers­y was one of the main reasons that no company was willing to supply the jackets in multiple tenders floated by Maharashtr­a Police since the 2008 attacks, according to the official. —

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