U.S. gives Mumbai police equipment to fight against terrorism

Mumbai Police has received counter-terror equipment from the United States.

Outgoing U.S. Ambassador to India Nancy Powell handed over the explosive incident counter-measure equipment worth USD 300,000 to Mumbai Police to aid in the fight against terrorism here yesterday.

Addressing a special function organised to hand over the equipment, Powell, said the relationship between the U.S. and India, the oldest and largest democracies in the world, is a very strategic one.

"Our two nations are committed to fight terrorism and unfortunately share the fact that we have been victims of terrorism. We are working together to make life safe for everyone on both countries. I am very pleased for being able to give the explosive incident countermeasures equipment that is worth over $ 300,000 to the Mumbai police to aid in the fight against terrorism," said Powell.

In a bid to step up efforts against terrorism, Powell said Washington and New Delhi were working together to make life safe for people.

The major elements of equipments were Explosive Ordnance Disposal Suits (EOD9), helmets designed to resist high velocity bomb particles during bomb explosion, disruptors which are used for disrupting improvised explosive devices (IEDs), scanners for detecting suspect packages and IEDs, tool kits to assist the bomb squad technicians.

Director and Inspector General, Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) G.S. Chaudhari expressed his gratitude to the U.S. Government for the technical aide.

"We are grateful for the assistance and certainly these equipments will be used for fighting terror and rather we will be trying to impart the training. And we will try to use these equipments on the airports and for VIP protection and especially for imparting training," said Chaudhari.