The Metropolitan Police is trialling new ‘Sandcat’ armoured vehicles across London – which are manufactured by Israeli armoured vehicle company Plasan. For more than thirty years, Plasan has supplied these systems to the Israeli military, including around seven hundred ‘Sandcats’ since the beginning of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
A Met spokesperson said the eighteen vehicles it has bought from Plasan will be used to suppress ‘serious public disorder’ and will replace its fleet of ‘Jankel’ armoured cars, according to reports in The New Arab.
Israeli arms companies frequently use the deployment of their weapons in Gaza as a sales tool, boasting that they are ‘battle tested’ after being used against Palestinians.
Tangi was an interim measure that somehow lasted almost 40 years. It’s very much out of date however. The company behind the Pangolin went bust in 2020. In any case, Land Rover stopped making Defenders a decade ago, and only make luxury vehicles now.