In a joint operation targeting the illegal sale of battle fatigues, the Indian Army and Rajasthan Police seized nearly 1,000 metres of unauthorised army-pattern combat cloth from multiple shops in Rajasthan’s Sriganganagar town, the army said on Saturday.
The seizure points to a wider network supplying counterfeit military uniforms to vendors in the region, it added.
To be sure, the army earlier secured a patent for a new combat uniform unveiled in 2022 to prevent unauthorised sale and misuse. The new digital camouflage pattern uniform was introduced to address the uncontrolled proliferation of an earlier uniform, which led to security vulnerabilities in military establishments.
The action followed the seizure of similar counterfeit combat cloth in Bareilly in June this year, which the army traced to a manufacturer in Sriganganagar. “Acting on this lead, Indian Army intelligence personnel conducted a discreet investigation in the city, which pointed to a local firm as a key link in the supply chain allegedly distributing counterfeit Army-pattern combat cloth to shops in Sriganganagar town as well as in Lalgarh Jattan, Suratgarh and other nearby markets,” it said.
An interim probe report was shared with Rajasthan Police in mid-July, leading to a coordinated operation on July 30 in which security personnel and police searched multiple shops across the district. Unauthorised possession, sale or use of military-pattern combat cloth is a punishable offence. Such material poses a security risk because it enables the impersonation of armed forces personnel, the army added.
Another reason for selecting the new uniform pattern was to introduce uniformity in soldiers’ battle fatigues. Variations in the earlier uniform pattern drew criticism from several quarters. The National Institute of Fashion Technology helped the army finalise the new combat uniform. While soldiers wear the combat uniform in operational areas, those posted at the Army headquarters in New Delhi also wear the combat dress on Fridays in solidarity with personnel in forward areas.