Rehman Malik the Interior Advisor/Minister for Pakistan’s and Tariq Khosa the Director General of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) briefed Ronald K. Noble the INTERPOL Secretary General today as part of its ongoing efforts to investigate last November’s Mumbai terrorist attacks.
Pakistan’s INTERPOL National Central Bureau sent INTERPOL General Secretariat headquarters in Lyon, France, the FIA’s investigative report into the Mumbai terror attacks so that the information could be checked against the organization’s global databases to determine what links may exist beyond India and Pakistan.
INTERPOL was also given copies of requests for additional investigative leads that Pakistan had sent to four countries in order for INTERPOL to facilitate Pakistan’s obtaining this critical information.
Noble the Secretary General said "Pakistan’s utilization of INTERPOL’s global network and global databases has demonstrated their commitment to allowing all of INTERPOL’s 187 member countries to benefit from and to help with its detailed investigation into the Mumbai terrorist attacks.".
"Pakistan understands that unless terrorist-related information is compared against INTERPOL’s global databases and shared among its global network, an international terrorist investigation can never be considered complete and all countries which are not provided with this vital information remain at risk."
During his mission to Islamabad, Secretary General Noble also received a detailed briefing from the FIA chief Tariq KHOSA and other senior Pakistani law enforcement officials on their investigation into the Mumbai terrorist attacks and to discuss what further assistance could be provided by INTERPOL in supporting national security efforts. Based on these discussions, Pakistan has agreed to send INTERPOL the DNA profiles obtained by the FIA during the course of its investigation in order to determine whether there are even broader international links to the Mumbai terrorist attacks.
Mr Noble also said that once INTERPOL received investigative information relating to the Mumbai terrorist attacks from India, it would be able to compare that information to details received from Pakistan. INTERPOL could also then compare the information received from India against its global databases as is being done with information received from Pakistan.
"On behalf of the entire international police community, I thank Pakistan’s Advisor/Minister of Interior, Mr Rehman Malik, for his efforts to help INTERPOL member countries better protect themselves, and I commend Pakistan’s Director General of the Federal Investigative Agency and all those FIA police officials who are conducting such a thorough and highly professional investigation to identify those responsible for the tragic Mumbai attacks," said Mr Noble.
INTERPOL has also offered to provide its advanced technology to help secure Pakistan’s borders by allowing national law enforcement authorities to instantly identify anyone attempting to enter the country using fraudulent means. The system, known as MIND/FIND, enables immigration officials to carry out direct screening of passports and identity documents on a real-time basis against INTERPOL’s global database of almost 10 million stolen and lost passports.