The police service may buy afresh new heavy weapons, to replace old ones, such as Uzis. De Tijd reports today (Wednesday) that this somewhat historic procurement operation may cost up to 12 million euros.
The Interior Minister, Jan Jambon, (of the New Flemish Alliance) has promised police trade unions to work in equipping the police collectively with weapons.
These are arms intended for police units and this comes, with a degree of urgency, after the two policemen were attacked in Charleroi this summer.
The minister says that it emerges from an initial study that around 4,425 weapons will be necessary to supply all federal police units.
An invitation to tender will now follow and each police service, even local police, will be able to order weapons from the central procurement department of federal police.
“It emerges from the data that the price of a weapon varies between 1,500 and 2,700 euros, excluding VAT,” the minister suggests.
Jambon concludes, “This leaves us with a budget range of between 6.6 to 11.9 millions euros to equip the entire police service.”
The Brussels Times
