EJP | In Depth | Mideast Crisis | Beckett denies Hezbollah used UK-made goggles

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Beckett denies Hezbollah used UK-made goggles

Updated: 31/Aug/2006 16:42

British foreign secretary Margaret Beckett

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LONDON (EJP)--- British foreign secretary Margaret Becket has denied media reports that British made night vision goggles were discovered by the Israeli army in Hezbollah bunkers.

The claims were first made in article in The Times of London, and followed up by a letter to Beckett from Conservative MP William Hague who wrote of his concerns that the equipment had been supplied to Iran and then handed over to Hezbollah.

An investigation was launched into the matter by the British government which concluded that the equipment taken by the IDF consisted of “a remote video camera” and “a static thermal imaging system”.

In a letter to Hague, Beckett wrote that the video camera “did not require an export licence and is widely available through normal commercial outlets” and the imaging system “ was exported directly to a private end user in Lebanon in 1999.”

There had been speculation that the goggles had been part of a set of equipment sent to the Iranian police in 2003 for use in their fight against drug smuggling.

“The equipment found by the IDF was not exported to Iran, as the media have speculated. Nor does it include night vision goggles: the equipment found is entirely different in nature,” Beckett wrote.

In her letter, which Beckett said she made public due to the public interest in the issue, the foreign secretary stressed that the government were treating the matter “extremely seriously” and had discussed it with the Israeli army.

She wrote: “Last week, we approached the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) about reports that they had found British-made thermal imaging equipment in southern Lebanon. They have now provided us with full details of the two pieces of British-made equipment found. The Government of Israel made no complaint about this equipment, and has been grateful for the UK’s determination to get to the bottom of this issue.”