It follows an investigation by the BBC's Newsnight programme which found that one type of "detector" made by a British company cannot work.

The Iraqi government has spent $85m on the ADE-651 and there are concerns that they have failed to stop bomb attacks that have killed hundreds of people.

The ban on the ADE-651 and other similar devices starts next week.

There is nothing to program in these cards. There is no memory. There is no microcontroller. There is no way any form of information can be stored Dr Markus Kuhn

Sidney Alford, a leading explosives expert who advises all branches of the military, told Newsnight the sale of the ADE-651 was "absolutely immoral".

"It could result in people being killed in the dozens, if not hundreds," he said.

Iraq has bought thousands of the detectors for a total of $85m (£52m).

The device is sold by Jim McCormick, based at offices in rural Somerset, UK.

The ADE-651 detector has never been shown to work in a scientific test.

Policemen manning checkpoints in Baghdad have told the BBC that you need to be relaxed to use the ADE-651 and that it does not work properly if the user is stressed or has a high heart rate.

In other words, the message which has got through to the frontlines is - if it does not work, blame the operator not the device.

They are in use everywhere from Thailand to Pakistan and Lebanon.

"For a British company to be selling a piece of technology that is useless when it's meant to be saving lives is abhorrent," Lou McGrath, chief executive of the charity, Mines Advisory Group, told Newsnight.