Salisbury spy poison plot has cost the Ministry of Defence £18m on staff and specialist clean up gear

THE Salisbury spy poison plot has cost the Ministry of Defence a staggering £18million, The Sun can reveal.

The total bill faced by taxpayers has now hit £28million — after a £10million police probe.

Getty - Contributor

The poison attack was launched by Vladimir Putin’s hitmen in March 2018[/caption]

Figures show £10.9million was spent by the MoD on personnel costs to clear and make contaminated sites safe. Another £6.7million went on specialist equipment and materials.

Some £286,000 was spent on travel, accommodation and meals for specialist teams and staff, a Freedom of Information request revealed.

Separate figures this month showed 16 police vehicles and eight ambulances contaminated by Novichok were written off at a cost of £892,000.

The included three Mercedes Sprinter 519 CDI ambulances, with one worth £137,318.

South Western Ambulance Service also had to destroy five Skoda Octavia 4x4s, costing a combined £93,334.

All had to be safely buried in a hazardous waste landfill site.

Wiltshire Police will ask the Home Office to cover its £10million costs.

Ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia survived the attack in March 2018, launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hitmen. But in July last year Dawn Sturgess, 44, died after handling a bottle containing the toxin.

Rex Features

Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia survived the attack[/caption]

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