Saving lives, one keystroke at a time

The Sindh Police’s newest gadget can prevent a lot of unnecessary bloodshed

KARACHI:

Saleem Vistro’s life could have been spared if the Sindh Police utilised modern technology. Vistro was a senior expert of the bomb disposal squad working in Hyderabad and lost his life while trying to manually defuse a hand grenade.

His death forced bomb disposal experts working in Sindh to make a tough decision and demand modern technology being used in various countries to trace and defuse bombs to save lives, particularly those of post-blast investigators.

In the aftermath of his death, the police department finally obtained a ‘bomb defusing robot’ to safeguard the lives of other experts like Vistro. Gifted by the United Kingdom to the Sindh Police, the robot is controlled via a specialised van and has the capability to defuse improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Read: Technological advancement: Sindh police to computerise crime records

Bomb disposal, or explosive ordnance disposal (EOD), robots are one of the many tools a technician might use to defuse explosive material. Besides the human cost of losing a bomb technician in the field, the cost of training a bomb disposal officer is significantly higher than buying an EOD robot.

Four cameras and one rifle gun are also installed in the robot for monitoring purposes. The robot identifies explosive material through an x-ray machine, whereas the rifle gun is used for unlocking. Due to its diminutive height the robot can easily search underneath cars.

“It’s equipped with an arm-like manipulator, sensors and a camera on a boom to allow the operator to remotely disarm ordnance and improvised explosive devices,” explained a senior post blast investigator, Ghulam Mustafa, while speaking to The Express Tribune. “In most cases, the technician working with the robot will sit at a safe distance with the control station. This is a laptop-like device which consists of a monitor showing the robot’s point of view as well as its surroundings, plus a joystick and control panel to manipulate the arm and maneuver the tracks.”

In addition to this, Karachi is likely to get a couple more bomb defusing robots to protect the lives of the citizens as well as the ‘protectors’ of the citizens. “Our higher ups have assured us that there will be at least a couple of similar robots soon,” explained another senior post blast investigator who wished not to be named. “But our question is why did they not think of our lives before? Were they waiting for Vistro to die?”

The robot worth around Rs10 million was donated by the UK in December last year. It was first used to avert any possible sabotage attempts during the central procession and other Youm-e-Ali  related gatherings in Karachi in July of this year. “It can be used to defuse small bombs like hand grenades, crackers and pressure cooker bombs, which would not affect it if they exploded,” explained Mustafa. “One advantage is that if the bomb explodes while being defused, we lose a robot and not a human life.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2015.