INTERPOL Secretary General visits India to offer investigative and terrorism prevention support following Mumbai terrorist attacks

١٩ ديسمبر، ٢٠٠٨

NEW DELHI, India – An INTERPOL delegation headed by Secretary General Ronald K. Noble is in India to ensure that the national authorities receive all of the support that they require from INTERPOL’s other 186 member countries in the wake of the deadly terrorist attacks against national and international targets in Mumbai last month.

On Saturday, 20 December 2008, and as part of the visit, Secretary General Noble will meet with India’s Union Minister of Home Affairs, Mr Palaniappan Chidambaram.

At the meeting, INTERPOL will reiterate its offer to ensure that the details of the terrorists who were killed or captured – including their names, fingerprints, DNA profiles and photographs – are compared against INTERPOL’s global databases and appropriately disseminated to each and every one of its member countries. INTERPOL will also offer to issue Black Notices (for deceased persons) and Blue Notices (to obtain additional information) for the 10 terrorists involved in the attacks. These notices will allow Indian authorities to seek formal and structured assistance from INTERPOL member countries.

In addition to on-going investigative support, INTERPOL is offering to extend access to INTERPOL’s global databases beyond the INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB) in New Delhi to include state police, immigration and border-control units and other law enforcement authorities throughout the country, thus enabling officers to conduct real-time checks of INTERPOL’s databases on wanted persons, stolen and lost travel documents, and other critical police information related to terrorism. 

INTERPOL will also offer India its state-of-the-art technology to enable immigration officials to carry out direct screening of passports and identity documents on a real-time basis against INTERPOL’s global database of more than 16 million stolen and lost travel documents. This border-control system would permit Indian law enforcement authorities to instantly identify anyone attempting to fraudulently enter the country by air, land or sea. If this offer is accepted, India will join 41 other countries worldwide with this capability.

“India has long been a strong partner of INTERPOL; it is only appropriate that INTERPOL stand shoulder to shoulder with India as it investigates the Mumbai terrorist attacks, which will be remembered for how long they lasted,” said Secretary General Noble.

“India and its Central Bureau of Investigation have much experience in using INTERPOL tools and services to track down terrorist fugitives and so India understands that it cannot be expected to find the answers to this incident without the support of the global law enforcement community, and INTERPOL will help ensure that this happens,” Mr Noble added.

Following the terrorist attacks on 26-29 November which killed more than 170 people and injured at least 300, INTERPOL immediately offered to deploy an Incident Response Team to Mumbai. It is INTERPOL’s practice to offer operational police support to any of its 187 member countries following a crisis, including a terrorist attack or natural disaster. Since 2002, INTERPOL has deployed 43 Incident Response Teams to 30 countries worldwide.