NEW DELHI: CBI director Praveen Sood on Thursday said that in 2023, Interpol had issued a record 100 red corner notices (RCNs) at India’s request.
Speaking at the 10th Interpol Liaison Officers (ILO’s) Conference, organised here by the CBI, Sood said as many as 29 wanted criminals were brought back to India in 2023 and 19 so far in 2024 with the help of Interpol and international law enforcement partners. He said the Global Operation Centre of the CBI has handled 17,368 international assistance requests in 2023.
Earlier, inaugurating the conference, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan lauded the CBI's Global Operation Centre, underlining that it is handling 200-300 requests for assistance on a daily basis.
Mohan also stressed on the need for active international police cooperation in tackling the rapidly evolving landscape of technology-enabled crimes which transcends borders.
Noting that RCNs are not arrest warrants, Sood said these are just requests to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest persons pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.
The CBI director said the world today faces a multitude of grave and globalised poly-crimes and threats like terrorism, online radicalisation, cyber enabled financial crimes, online child sexual exploitation, corruption, drug trafficking and terror financing.
“Police in India have been at the forefront of addressing these challenges through a combination of robust legal framework, innovative initiatives, leveraging technology and proactive international cooperation,” Sood said, adding that there “is a need for international cooperation in the light of technology enabled offences becoming more prevalent and criminals are no longer constrained by borders, and neither should our efforts to combat them.”
During the conference, the participants were briefed on intricacies related to extradition, provisional arrest and local prosecution by MEA officials. “Sessions were dedicated to operationally leveraging INTERPOL channels, GloBE Network and investigation of complex transnational crimes,” a CBI spokesperson said in a statement.
He said an expert round table event on the theme ‘Strengthening International Law Enforcement Partnerships’ involved participation of speakers from the BKA (Germany), the FBI (USA), the CBI, the National Police Agency (Japan), the National Crime Agency (UK), the PDI (Chile) and the Nepal Police.
“It was highlighted by the speakers that globalization of crime poses a significant challenge. Effectively countering these threats requires close collaboration and partnership with law enforcement agencies across countries and that the need for robust and real-time international police cooperation has never been greater,” the statement read.
The CBI, as the National Central Bureau (NCB) for Interpol in India, connects all law enforcement agencies in India, both at central and state/Union territory level through designated Interpol liaison officers, it said.