The Czech Republic has sent some 5,000 faulty gas masks to Kuwait that are unusable against a chemical attack, a Czech newspaper reported today.
The paper said the masks were shipped by the Czech firm Gumarny Zubri as part of a sample order that was to lead to larger shipments later on.
The Czechs have some 400 chemical-detection troops stationed in Kuwait and the paper said the soldiers have been barred from using the masks. Most of the order was to be used by civilians and soldiers from Kuwait.
Company officials, according to the paper, said they did not have enough masks to fill the 5,000 piece order, and therefore borrowed gas masks from the Interior Ministry's warehouse.
"The masks that arrived in Kuwait are a cause for shame. I am extremely angry," the Czech defence minister was quoted as saying.
Czech troops were stationed in Kuwait at the request of NATO ally the United States several months before war broke out.
The troops are not part of the US-led forces involved in the war and are there to protect civilians, public and military installations against weapons of mass destruction or against possible leaks from chemical factories and refineries.