Studded belts being held in radioactive storage facility but alleged supplier says they are not ones he sent company

A batch of metal-studded belts sold by online fashion retailer Asos have been hurriedly withdrawn from sale after they were found to be radioactive.

The peplum leather belts, which have a ruffle attached, could cause injury to the wearer if worn for more than 500 hours, according to an internal report by the retailer. They are being held in a radioactive storage facility after testing positive for Cobalt-60.

The report, called Project Purple Flower and seen by the Guardian, said one of the brass-studded belts was pulled by US border control and tested positive.

It led to a worldwide recall of the items, with 49 sold across 14 countries, but it is not known how many have been returned. The report said: "None of these belts are suitable for public use or possession."

It added: "Unfortunately, this incident is quite a common occurrence. India and the far east are large consumers of scrap metal for their home and foreign markets. During the refining process of these metals, orphaned radioactive sources are sometimes accidentally melted at the same time. This in turn [contaminates the process] and traps the radioactivity in the metal as an alloy or in suspension."

A spokesman for Asos said: "A product supplied to Asos did not meet UK health and safety standards. Asos worked with all relevant authorities and undertook a precautionary product recall, in line with our high standards of quality and customer care. No other Asos product lines are affected.

"Asos continues to work with the relevant regulatory authorities and is in dialogue with the supplier and the factory workers involved to ensure a satisfactory outcome."

But a row has now broken out between Asos and the Indian group accused by the company of supplying the belts. Haq International, which had been a supplier to Asos for more than a year, sold 641 belts to that are said to be radioactive.

However, Faizan Haq, the boss of the supplier, has been refused permission to inspect the belts, with Asos telling him that counter-terrorism agencies believe he is a security risk, despite the father-of-one having no criminal record.

Documents seen by the Guardian show that the belts Asos claims are contaminated do not match the description of the belts supplied by Haq, or any of the 30 products supplied by the firm.

Despite this, Asos is demanding £100,000 from the supplier in recall charges and has withheld £64,000 owed to the businessman, who has had to cancel orders with Miss Selfridge and shut his factory for five months, leaving 18 Indian workers without jobs. He claims he has also had to sell his car to hire his own lawyers.

The belts being held as a result of Project Purple Flower have 801 metal studs and weigh 316g, while the peplum belts Haq supplied, which come in four sizes, contain a maximum of 750 brass studs, with the smallest size weighing 370g.

Asos claims codes on the boxes with the contaminated belts match those supplied by Haq and that the discrepancies over the number of metal studs is due to the belts all being handmade.

Independent tests by the Health Protection Agency at Haq's London warehouse found there was no radiation from any of the belts and metal stored there, while in India the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board carried out an inspection that has not been shared with him.

Project Purple Flower confirmed that the majority of the 801 brass studs in the belts were contaminated. However, Asos uses several different belt suppliers.

In the Uttar Pradesh province in northern India, workers at the Royal Ascot Leather factory, who earn less than £50 a month, have taken to holding daily protests outside the closed building.

They are demanding Asos gives them their jobs back and are burning effigies of Asos bosses. Haq, who has run his business for eight years, said: "My life has been ruined by this huge company, which claims to look after its suppliers.

"I have been writing to Asos for months now in an attempt to see the belts they claim are mine, but I've been turned away and fobbed off, and now I'm being told I'm banned from inspecting them."

Asos has since offered to pay Haq £24,000 of the £64,000 he is owed, but he has still not been able to see the belts since the issue was first raised in a meeting with senior Asos buyers in December last year.