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Diplomats gauging security measures with ‘dummy bombs’

ISLAMABAD: After a foreign diplomat’s car was found carrying a “dummy bomb” on board, the Interior Ministry has warned that vehicles of foreign missions carrying illegal weapons and suspicious material on board will be impounded in the future. After a Danish embassy official was found carrying weapons in his car in Islamabad, foreign diplomats seem to be conducting their own security checks in order to gauge the efficiency of law enforcement agencies. The Interior Ministry has written a letter to the Foreign Office to inform it about a recent incident involving a Danish embassy vehicle that had been fitted with a “dummy bomb”. The letter said the vehicle, bearing registration APC-718, with Danish embassy contractor Mehboob and the embassy’s Senior Security Adviser Chris John on board, was stopped for routine checking outside embassy premises. Security personnel found an “unidentified object” attached to the vehicle and engaged the Bomb Disposal Squad immediately to examine it. “The object was checked and dismantled and declared a dummy bomb. On inquiry, Chris John told the police that it was a mock exercise to determine the efficiency and alertness of police officials deployed on duty. Mehboob told the police that he was totally unaware about the material attached with the vehicle,” the letter said. The letter further quoted the Islamabad police as saying that diplomatic missions were fitting their vehicles with suspicious objects to check the enforced security measures and the alertness of Islamabad police. “When the suspect objects are traced or recovered by the police from the diplomatic vehicles, they simply say this is a mock exercise. Such type of exercises without prior permission of Ministry of Interior are a threat to the security of diplomatic missions and a challenge for the Islamabad police, as the terrorists may also benefit from such type of mock exercises,” the letter said. tahir niaz

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