According to Norwegian Army's spokesperson when asked to reveal contract
The Icelandic Coast Guard demanded that its purchase of 250 machine guns from the Norwegian army would not be made public, according to RÚV. The request for secrecy was made as early as December 2013.
This was revealed when RÚV asked the Norwegian Army to see the contract between the two parties. The Army replied, on Wednesday, that the Icelandic Coast Guard requested that the contract, and all documents involved in the exchange, would be kept confidential and away from public scrutiny.
The Coast Guard’s highest authority, Georg Lárusson, had already refused to disclose the contract. The reason he cited was that as a NATO document the contract is confidential.
Spokespeople of the Icelandic Coast Guard and the State Police have repeatedly stated that the weapons were a gift from Norway.
Meanwhile, representatives of the Norwegian Army have insisted that the guns were sold to Iceland. Bent-Ivan Myhre, spokesperson of the Norwegian Army’s commander-in-chief, says that there is no doubt that the exchange was a purchase and not a gift, and that an invoice will be duly sent by the end of the year.
150 of the purchased weapons are to be handed to police departments around the country.
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