Small arms weaponry, ammunition and various other military equipment were among millions of pounds’ worth of goods exported last year from Britain to Sri Lanka under licences for arms and other closely regulated exports.

Statistics taken from the British government’s own database for strategic export controls show items ranging from assault rifles and shotguns through to weapons sights, pistols and ammunition were sold last year to the South Asian nation’s government, the Guardian reported.

More than £2m worth of sales last year fell into the “ML1” category – which is used by the government to denote small arms and weapons –according to figures scraped from the government’s database for strategic export controls by the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT).

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) said it does not comment on individual licence requests, the application or the end user, but added: “The UK government takes its export licensing responsibilities seriously and operates one of the most rigorous arms export control regimes in the world.

“Any application to export a product covered by an export control is assessed against internationally recognised criteria on a case-by-case basis.

“Each assessment we make takes into account the intended end use of the equipment, the behaviour of the end user, the risk of diversion and the prevailing circumstances in the country concerned. We pay particular attention to allegations of human rights abuses”, he stated to the Guardian.