By IANS
New Delhi : India’s most-wanted fugitive Dawood Ibrahim, designated a global terrorist, figured significantly in talks between the chiefs of Interpol and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) with the former hinting here Thursday that countries should accord greater importance to red corner notices.
Interpol’s Secretary General Ronald K. Noble who is in India to attend a seminar organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) on counterfeiting and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) has already revealed that Dawood is in Pakistan.
Noble made the startling revelation, though accidentally, during a conversation in Mumbai a day earlier.
“During the talks, CBI director, Vijay Shankar took up the issue of apprehending certain fugitives who have been charged for terrorist crimes committed in India,” a highly placed source told IANS.
“The Interpol chief also underlined the fact that allowing such dangerous criminals to roam and travel freely puts all other citizens at risk.”
In fact Noble during his expansive talks with Shankar that lasted for over an hour said Interpol’s 186 member-countries needed to accord greater legal validity and importance to the red corner notice.
“The CBI chief drew special attention to certain fugitives like Dawood against whom an Interpol notice exists for over a decade now but pointed to the laxity and lack of vigilance on the part of other countries to apprehend him.”
Shankar was clearly insinuating that Pakistan has been harbouring the global terrorist accused in the deadly 1993 Mumbai blasts, as the CBI has been claiming for long.
At various forums including the Kandahar hijacking judgement earlier this month, the CBI reiterated that the Pakistani authorities were harbouring him.
An Interpol red corner notice and an Interpol-UN Special Notice is in place against Dawood who was a declared a “global terrorist” by the US in October 2003.
However, the Pakistan government has continuously denied his presence in their territory.
Under a special sanction sought, his assets were sought to be frozen, and a travel ban and an arms embargo were imposed. He is also wanted by the US for his alleged support to the Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
“Taking into consideration India’s apprehensions regarding fugitives, Noble pointed out that no member country should allow criminals against whom both an Interpol red corner notice and UN-Interpol Special Notices exist to roam at will,” said a CBI official.
Shanker also credited the expeditious arrest of Amit Kumar, the alleged kingpin of the multi-million-kidney racket that shook the nation, to the issuance a red corner notice by the Interpol within a day.
Amit Kumar, a 43-year-old Ayurvedic doctor who allegedly carried out around 600 illegal kidney transplants, was arrested by the Nepal Police from a hotel near the Indo-Nepal border on the basis of the notice.