By IANS
New Delhi : Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials Friday denied knowledge about the whereabouts of mob boss Dawood Ibrahim, India’s most wanted fugitive accused of having masterminded the 1993 Mumbai serial bombings that killed 257 people.
“We have no idea about Dawood’s location and this is all we can say,” Ammar H. Jaffari, a top FIA official told IANS on the sidelines of the 7th Interpol Conference on cyber crimes which concluded here Friday.
“We are here to attend an Interpol cyber conference and can’t comment on the issue. You should direct this question to our Indian counterpart, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI),” Jaffari added.
Asked about the level of cyber crimes in Pakistan, Jaffari said: “It is at a nascent stage in Pakistan, but everyone could face dire consequences if it is not checked properly.”
Rao Amin H. Khan, a senior Pakistani police official, said cyber crimes related to identity theft and threatening e-mails are very prevalent in his country and posed a serious challenge.
“We have enacted an Electronic Transaction Ordinance (ETO) 2002 Act, which has helped us in convicting five cyber criminals in the recent past. But we are also revising the act,” Khan said, adding that India has so far managed to get conviction of only two such criminals.
The Pakistani officials said that the FIA and the CBI have established between them information channels on cyber crimes and its utilisation has increased to a large extent recently.
“We are neighbouring countries and are co-operating with each other with regard to information exchange. We expect more cooperation in future,” Jaffari said.
On Wednesday, CBI director Vijay Shankar without naming Pakistan said the international community should mount pressure on the country that is “harbouring global terrorist Dawood” so that he could face trial in India.
“We all know where he (Dawood) is. The international community should exert pressure on the country for handing over Dawood Ibrahim to India,” Shankar told reporters.
Last month, the CBI sent a letter to the FIA asking it to confirm media reports about the underworld boss and his associates being detained by the country’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
The US State Department has labelled Dawood a “specially designated global terrorist” for his alleged links with the Al Qaeda, along with his lieutenant Chhota Shakeel and the Mumbai terror bombings’ alleged mastermind Tiger Memon.
However, Pakistani authorities have strongly denied the presence of Dawood and his accomplices in the country.