NMS International sold armoured vehicles – which have allegedly been used to quell demonstrations – to Libyan regime

This article is more than 9 years old

This article is more than 9 years old

One of the British firms heavily involved in selling military equipment to Libya has defended its business practices. NMS International has sold armoured vehicles to the Libyan regime which have allegedly been used to quell demonstrations.

The firm, based in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, has also been training the Libyan police on how to control riots. It has organised delegations of British companies to visit Libya to sell a wide range of military equipment at two arms fairs.

Footage appears to show the armoured vehicles on the streets of Libya in recent days.

Yesterday Louis Oliver, one of the NMS directors, said the vehicles were not "designed in any way to be used in a hostile fashion" as they were built to transport 42 police officers "in a protected environment, like big armoured buses".

The firm has sold 10 of the vehicles, built in the UK, to the Libyans in the last four years.

NMS, whose directors claim to have sold more than £1bn worth of exports in the last decade, was also hired to train Libyan police officers to use so-called "non-lethal weapons" to contain demonstrators. He added that the weapons included guns which fire teargas.

Oliver said: "I don't have a problem with that. What we have taught them is the British policing system and using an escalated response and not carrying any lethal weapons." He added this involved the police giving rioters "lots and lots of warnings" before they used more forceful weapons.

NMS took up to 50 British companies to arms fairs in Libya in 2008 and last November. The last exhibition reportedly showcased military wares such as artillery systems, anti-tank weapons, and infantry weapons.

According to NMS, Richard Northern, Britain's ambassador to Libya, and Whitehall's arms sales unit attended the fair.

Oliver said that all their Libyan sales were approved by the British government. "We have worked very closely with our government all the way through."

Oliver Sprague, an Amnesty International campaigner, said : "These licences should never have been granted in the first place given the reams of credible information supplied to the UK government by Amnesty and others relating to the Libyan government's extreme intolerance of all forms of dissent.

"As we've already seen with Bahrain, it looks as if the government's risk-assessment system isn't working. We need much tighter checks when arms and security equipment are being despatched in cases like this."