EU provides bomb disposal vans worth 4m euros to Punjab

Punjab police chief also requested for training of police personnel on how to use the equipment.

LAHORE: Four state-of-the-art bomb disposal vans worth four million euros were handed over to the Punjab Police by the European Union (EU) to combat terrorism, on Tuesday.

Talking to the media, Inspector General (IG) Punjab Javed Iqbal apprised that each van costs one million euros and was equipped with the latest technology, with the capacity to defuse, transport and detonate the bomb in case of any emergency.

The Punjab Police Chief also asked the EU delegation to provide training as well for police personnel in the investigation department on how to use the equipment.

He said that these vans will start functioning after a three week training course conducted by EU experts, commencing from January 2012.

A five member delegation from EU law enforcement agencies briefed IG Punjab on the vans in a high level meeting at the Police Head Quarters. The meeting was attended by Additional IG Training Sarmed Saeed, Additonal IG Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Mushtaq Ahmed Sukhera and Deputy IG Elite Police Force Zulfiqar Cheema.

The EU delegation comprised of Tijn Van Winsen, Elizabeth Loacker, Pierre Mayaudon, Michael Merker and Simona Gilotta.