Indian agencies, Europol to now share crime data
HAVING DIRECT ACCESS TO EUROPOL DATA CAN EASE THINGS FOR INDIA AGENCIES IN TERMS OF LOCATING A FUGITIVE, SAY OFFICIALS
NEW DELHI: India and Europol – the European Union’s law enforcement agency – have come together for the first time to share real-time information and access each other’s crime databases with a purpose to assist the agencies on both sides to have better coordination in cases pertaining to terrorism, money laundering, organised crimes and cyber crimes, people familiar with the development said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will be the nodal agency to coordinate with Europol and for any information sought by the Indian police or other central agencies.
The two sides finalised an agreement in this regard during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of recently concluded 90th Interpol General Assembly, held in New Delhi from October 18 to 21.
Europol executive director Catherine De Bolle met senior CBI officers to finalise the cooperation. “India and the EU face common challenges and building on our cooperation will enable us to better address threats to our democracies,” Europol tweeted on October 20.
“Until now, in case of any information-sharing related to organised crimes, terrorism or web-related offences for Indians wanted in European countries, Indian agencies had to go through Interpol or bilateral agreements with individual countries. However, Europol holds the criminals’ related
and has all 27 EU member countries’ police networks linked, which will lead to faster information sharing. It will ultimately be beneficial for both sides,” said an officer, asking not to be named.
The Hague-headquartered agency was officially created in 1999 to assist EU member countries in the fight against transnational crimes. It operates through more than 1,000 staff, over 200 liaison officers and supports over 40,000 international investigations every year. Outside the EU zone, it has working arrangements with several countries including the UK, Qatar, Mexico, New Zealand, Israel, Japan, Armenia and others.
Several wanted Indian fugitives, including wanted Khalistani terrorists, are based in countries such as Germany, Italy, Belgium and France among others. Some of the notable wanted criminals currently located in Europe include Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) radical Jaswinder Singh Multani, Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) leaders Bhupinder Singh Bhinda, Gurmeet Singh Bagga and Shaminder Singh in Gerdatabase many, and Nirav Modi’s brother Neeshal Modi in Belgium, and a few Khalistani terrorists in Italy and Austria.
Officials feel that having direct access to Europol directorate can ease things for Indian agencies in terms of locating a fugitive, and sharing information on sensitive online crimes such as child pornography and terror plots.
“I don’t know what the details of the arrangement are but sharing of information between Europol and Indian agencies will definitely help in dealing with elements indulged in narcotics smuggling, having links with terrorist groups or individuals involved in financial crimes, who move to various countries including Europe,” said former ED director Karnal Singh.