Fake Army combat uniform seized from Berhampur in Odisha
BERHAMPUR: In a joint operation, Berhampur police and Military Intelligence seized counterfeit version of Army combat uniform fabric measuring 488 metre from a textile store here on Monday.
The fake combat uniform bore the new digital pattern of the Indian Army. Based on the inputs received from Military Intelligence Unit, Gopalpur, the joint team raided Ganjam Galaxy Store near Berhampur Stadium and seized the uniform, said Berhampur SP Sarvana Vivek M.
During search, a total of 488 metre of fake combat uniform valued at `1.20 lakh was seized. Investigation revealed that owner of Ganjam Galaxy store had procured the uniform from a store in Kolkata which in turn has bought it from Ludhiana. “Further investigation is underway to verify the place of manufacturing and the people behind it,” said the SP.
As it turned out, an employee of Army Air Defence College, Gopalpur during a visit to Berhampur noticed that the store was selling counterfeit digital combat uniform of the Indian Army.
The new digital pattern combat uniform was unveiled by the Army on January 15, 2022 and the old uniform is in the process of being replaced. The Army has Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) for the design and camouflage patterns for a 10-year period, extendable for another five years.
This has been done to prevent unauthorised vendors from manufacturing and selling the combat uniform in the open market which posed a serious security threat for the Indian Army.
As per orders, the new uniform has to be sold only in the Army’s unit-run canteens. Due to the IPR, the Army possesses exclusive rights to the design and can file complaint against any unauthorised sale of this design.
A criminal case was registered at Town Police station.