A loophole in Britain’s security regulations permitted dealers in surplus military supplies to modernize obsolete army equipment and export it to the Middle East, the British Government admitted last night.
In a written reply to an MP, R.H. Turton, Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs, said he was aware that such surplus army stores had been resold to Belgium and later made their way to Egypt. Export licenses had been granted on the understanding that such materiel was intended for civilian use and its export for military purposes is an “evasion” of the regulations.
Action would be taken to prevent further evasion, Mr. Turton pledged. It has been learned that Ministry of Supply officials have been instructed to scrutinize carefully all export applications and to establish the purposes of sale of such materiel and its ultimate purchasers.
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