Image: APA/BMI/JURGEN MAKOWECZ
The police’s defusing service received a new so-called blast suppression system this week. Suspicious substances or explosives can be transported away in the special device, which weighs several tons and has a ball made of steel – for example in the case of terrorist situations, the Ministry of the Interior announced.
The system withstands a detonation of up to eight kilograms of TNT without damage. “The specialists of the defusing service have to master very dangerous operations. They should also have the most modern equipment available for this,” said Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (VP). So far, explosive and incendiary devices have been transported on trailers that the defusing service developed itself during the letter bomb series in the mid-1990s. Explosives can now be transported with a special robot to the four-ton steel ball, which is then locked by remote control. The removal takes place on an all-terrain truck. According to the Ministry of the Interior, the entire system cost around 980,000 euros.
25 defusing specialists work at the Defusing Service (ESD), which is based in the Directorate for Special Units. The head office is in Vienna, there are branch offices in Graz and Hall in Tirol. If necessary, the officers are deployed throughout Austria.
Source: Nachrichten
