New Delhi: Being aware of the emerging threat of terror financing, online radicalization, and terrorism, an Indian delegation has discussed these issues with the USA, UK, Canada, and a few other countries at the ongoing 90th General Assembly of Interpol here in New Delhi.
The Indian delegation led by senior officials from law enforcement agencies also discussed another critical issue of the geolocations of fugitives and criminals. This assumes significance in lieu of several Indian fugitives taking shelter in other countries after committing crimes in India.
Underworld don and main accused in the Mumbai serial blasts of 1993, Dawood Ibrahim is last found located in Karachi. The Pakistani government, however, denies this claim. Gurparwant Singh Pannu, another fugitive and founder of Sikh for Justice (SFJ), a secessionist group is reportedly staying in the USA.
The absconding leaders of different terror outfits and secessionist groups are believed to be engaged in promoting terrorism in India. The Indian delegation also discussed issues like police cooperation inter alia for the enhancement of criminal intelligence sharing and coordinating efforts to prevent cybercrime and online child sexual exploitation.
Also read: Interpol Assembly: Watch Pak FIA chief's response to Dawood-Hafiz Saeed question
Chief of Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency, Mohsin Butt, was seen maintaining silence on whether Pakistani authorities were planning to hand over militant figures such as Dawood Ibrahim and LeT chief Hafeez Saeed to India.
"Including USA, UK, Canada, the Indian side had bilateral discussions with counties like Australia, UAE, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Austria, South Africa, New Zealand, Japan, Bhutan, Namibia, Bahrain, Russia, Oman, Serbia, Malaysia, and Mongolia so far," said a senior government official privy to the meeting.
Meanwhile, a representative from Bangladesh at the ongoing Interpol General Assembly said that following strong actions taken against the terrorist, they might sneak into safer places in neighboring countries.
"We are determined to fight terrorism. Our government has adopted zero tolerance against terrorism. There is also no existence of terrorists in Bangladesh," said Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, inspector general of Bangladesh Police to this correspondent.
He said that authorities in Bangladesh have been taking strong actions against terrorist organizations. "The Ansurallah Bangla Team (ABT) is not a threat to Bangladesh. In fact, we have a strong intelligence network to fight the menace of terrorism. We keep sharing intelligence inputs with India," said Chowdhury.
It is worth mentioning that ABT which is affiliated with Al Qaeda has been trying to make its bases in the several Indian States including West Bengal and Assam. In the recent past, law enforcement agencies in Assam have arrested a number of ABT members from different places.
