The British Ministry of Defence knew for more than a year that faulty plastic bullets were in use in Northern Ireland, it emerged today.
Parliament was told earlier this month that "a significant proportion" of plastic bullets supplied for use in 1994 were faulty in that they could be fired at a higher speed than the Ministry limit.
It suggests that some Defence officials knew faulty, high-speed bullets were being used to quell disturbances arising from last summer's marching season, reports the London independent. More than 8,000 rounds were fired last year.
The junior Defence Minister, Mr John Spellar, in reply to a pre-arranged question on June 10th, said all suspect bullets had been withdrawn from use in April.
But in answer to a follow-up question from a Labour MP, Mr edgemore, this week, the ministry said it first discovered the fault in early 1996 after assessing tests carried out in 1995.
The RUC was informed about the faulty 1994 rounds in March. All the plastic bullets were with-drawn by April 25th. It is not known if suspect rounds were fired after the warning.
Mr Sedgemore said he was astonished that the ministry should have taken a year to tell the RUC of the fault, and was more astonished it took a month to withdraw the dangerous missiles.
"This may not be the last Conservative cover-up that we discover in Whitehall but it could well be one of the worst," he said.
Since the beginning of 1994 there have been 94 alleged injuries associated with incidents involving plastic bullets. (PA)