Sri Lanka Security Situation

[Watchman]

  thushara_g said:

Daily Mirror 11th may 05'

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Bullet proof cars for VIPs under LTTE threat

In the wake of the LTTE’s recent suicide attack on Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, the government is to import nine bullet proof cars for the exclusive use of ministers and dignitaries who are said to be under Tiger threat.

According to reliable government sources the nine brand new armour-plated Mercedes Benz S 300 cars each costing Rs. 120 million has been ordered from Germany.

The sources said two cars have been already airlifted to the country through local agents, Diesel and Motor Engineering Company (D*MO).

They said the rest of the shipment would arrive on Sunday aboard the German Cargo airline, Lufthansa

120,000,000 x 9 = Rs. 1,080,000,000

thats a LOT of money... and they say Govnt can no longer afford to give the fuel subsidy..... thus Ministers get 9 cars, and we pay 91 bucks for a liter of petrol !!!!!

mahinda chinthanaya !!!!!

[sharkster]

  thushara_g said:

They said the rest of the shipment would arrive on Sunday aboard the German Cargo airline, Lufthansa

oh sweet...thats more business for us

[Watchman]

just occured....

wonder what they'll do to the 20 + bullet proof vehicles that are already in the country!!!!!

[noaim]

  sharkster said:

oh sweet...thats more business for us

Ur in the cargo trade?!

[sharkster]

  monamonu said:

Ur in the cargo trade?!

aircraft cargo...u knw wat they'd use to restrain those cars? our products...lufthansa is one of our biggest customers

[ash]

I don't see any prob if these cars falls in to right hands. But if these goes to some nut ministers.... that's the prob

[noaim]

  sharkster said:

aircraft cargo...u knw wat they'd use to restrain those cars? our products...lufthansa is one of our biggest customers

Those net type thing?! i see..

[sharkster]

  monamonu said:

Those net type thing?! i see..

yup thats right...and these cars are goin to b soo heavy that they'd need quite a few

[Hola]

Just a question - Cant we get Toyota Crown or Honda Acord which are custom made to be bullet proof? It will be cheaper and definelty for a country like us so much expensive mercedez? ??? And if it was for the staff at the forces its all right...But for the non productive ministers of SL its a NO NO!!

[noaim]

C'mon Allocation of 1 Billion odd for jus 9 cars.. whoa!

[Watchman]

  ash said:

I don't see any prob if these cars falls in to right hands. But if these goes to some nut ministers.... that's the prob

machan,

1 BILLION rupees is a lot of money fr a country like ours....

think of the number of houses that can be built for th epeople still living in tsunami refugee camps...

plus 120 mill for a single car seems a bit too much.. dont you think.... if a new S class (semi option) is 26 million with allt he taxing, can the modifications be that expensive.. say the mod cost is about the value of a car..... thats still put the cost to about 30 million (cos govmnt doesnt have to pay tax)... smells fishy doesnt it....

just googles 'bulletprrof mercedes'... and found this....

http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/Bulletproo...T7aug00.htm.....

according to this a S500 costs $153,950.. that works up to about 15 million.... hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[ash]

  Dilesh said:

machan,

1 BILLION rupees is a lot of money fr a country like ours....

think of the number of houses that can be built for th epeople still living in tsunami refugee camps...

How much do you think our ministers (not all) pocket from a contract/tender or a deal. Or to flower there gardens.

If these 1 Billion goes to important persons like in forces or other V*P's (who are really under the L+++ target) I really feel it's worthy

  Dilesh said:

plus 120 mill for a single car seems a bit too much.. dont you think.... if a new S class (semi option) is 26 million with allt he taxing, can the modifications be that expensive.. say the mod cost is about the value of a car..... thats still put the cost to about 30 million (cos govmnt doesnt have to pay tax)... smells fishy doesnt it....

just googles 'bulletprrof mercedes'... and found this....

http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/Bulletproo...T7aug00.htm.....

according to this a S500 costs $153,950.. that works up to about 15 million.... hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Hmmmm.... defi.. U know our aiyala no, they must be importing bullet proof Merc Limos

[Watchman]

  ash said:

How much do you think our ministers (not all) pocket from a contract/tender or a deal. Or to flower there gardens.

If these 1 Billion goes to important persons like in forces or other V*P's (who are really under the L+++ target) I really feel it's worthy

i agree... Armed forces cheifs do deserve protection... and what did our army chief get? a peogeot 406.... though i think there is a merc that he uses to go for red-carpet events...

and the flower garden thing ... good one indeed!!!! that is one minister who should be sat down and spoken to by the president.. and i even read about a HUGE foreign hotel bill he left for the ministry to pay....

  ash said:

Hmmmm.... defi.. U know our aiyala no, they must be importing bullet proof Merc Limos

ya, article said they were S-300s but i think that must have been a misprint... should be 500s.. you'll need a lo of power to pull the weight... but note the prices...

sale price............ Rs. 15,000,000 (approx)

Gov Paying ........ RS.120,000,000

[GihanFX]

  Dilesh said:

i agree... Armed forces cheifs do deserve protection... and what did our army chief get? a peogeot 406.... though i think there is a merc that he uses to go for red-carpet events...

i think government need to give some bullet proof cars for Army Chief n other big ppl in forces... not for those ministers

[KLM]

Morons, FYI the Army Chief DID have a bullet-proof car that he chose not to use. Thank you, come again.

[Watchman]

  KLM said:

Morons, FYI the Army Chief DID have a bullet-proof car that he chose not to use. Thank you, come again.

calm down man..

not everyone sees/hears/knows everything.... i'm sure most of us dont know a lot of details about vehicles each head of military uses....

chill man chill...

[noaim]

KLM, calm down..

[KLM]

Try reading the newspapers regularly. That helps.

[The Don]

Hi Guys,

With all the respect in the world for everybodys opinions about politics, I think its an unavoidable subject, cos though we might be saying we don't like to talk about politics, everytime we bitch about fuel prices, or about import duty, or the speed limit or anything like that at all ......... well thats "politics" whether we like to admit or not.

Recently I had the not so wonderful task of going to the Bangladeshi High Commission to get a short visa. And the Bangladeshi high comission is right infront of the Korean Embassy. And while I was waiting the Bangladeshi High Commissioner arrived Merc S320 (might not have been the commissioner, might have been a counsellor, I dunno), and then after sometime I saw some senior official in the Korean embassy arrive, Toyota Premio,

I don't know if its some inferiority complex we have or whatever, but it seems people from 3rd world countries like ours seem to be obsessed with excesses like that, our people are starving while our leaders need mercs.

I mean in India I am sure V*P's travel in armoured vehicles but they are armoured ambassadors not mercs. In the UK most ministers use their own cars, even Gordon Brown drives an old Vectra.

Now I am all for protecting our leaders especially our millitary personel, I think our soildiers should be provided with body armour, and their vehicles provided with ample protection and generals etc provided with armoured vehicles all very important. But I am not sure how 120 million rupee price tags on Mercs can be justified when the government claims it cannot afford to provide ordinary soildiers with simple body armour.

Surely there is a fairer way to achieve this, and armour plating vehicles can be done after they are manufactured as well, I mean whatever we do it must be sustainable for the country.

I know I love my country, but sometimes I wonder what kind of junk some of our people are on thesedays (no reference to anybody in Autolanka, but you know what I mean)

The Don

[sharkster]

u boys may have seen this before but i thot i'll share it anyway...the reader comments are totally retarded...

http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news/2006/4/6676.html

[Watchman]

Don,

nicely put man... i agree with the inferiority complex scene..... i remember somewhere around late 90s i read about a big isse about Tony Blair's wife (Sherry? right) riding the subway on a expired seasonal ticket or something on her way to work... ya thats right, the PMs wife takes the train... and here, entire shopping stores are closed down when political VIPs wives go shopping... not to mention the vehicles and security they take with them..

and true, indian leaders ride simple cars (maybe armored), with the exception of the fancy limo they have when foriegn VIPs visit...

plus, i once saw on the news a Minister in a maroon LR3.... i'm sure that's not armored but more a status vehicle.

and to think we have presidential comissions to invetigate into such things and abuse of Gov. property

[xXx]

the thing is these facilities are freebees for MPs and who don't like freebies. im not justifying their actions im just expressing rational human behaviour. i remember few years ago when J*P 1st made the alliance wit the government they were given the chance to pick their official vehicles from the custom impound the place where all the seized vehicles are kept and there is a very impressive collection in the impound. but all the MPs happily rejected the offer and ended up bringing brand new vehicles.

sadly this is the situation.

[milinda]

In my book not even the whole cabinet is worth Rs 1bn including the PM. I would happily let L**E to blast a claymo and assasinate the whole bunch rather than wracking my 10 mercs worth 1 bn. Anyway how much does it cost us the tax payers to conduct another election and to elect another bunch of jokers as the cabinet ministers? Surely not Rs 1 Bn

[GihanFX]

  milinda said:

In my book not even the whole cabinet is worth Rs 1bn including the PM. I would happily let L**E to blast a claymo and assasinate the whole bunch rather than wracking my 10 mercs worth 1 bn. Anyway how much does it cost us the tax payers to conduct another election and to elect another bunch of jokers as the cabinet ministers? Surely not Rs 1 Bn

machan i think we should Privatise the government

[Hola]

LTTE might be getting a commision from Merc company when each time the SL goverment is buying a bullet proof Merc