10th Interpol Liaison Officers Conference inaugurated by Home Minister Govind Mohan at CBI Headquarters

Delhi: The 10th INTERPOL Liaison Officers (ILO) Conference, organised by the CBI, was opened today by Govind Mohan, India’s Home Minister, at the CBI headquarters in New Delhi.

This year’s ILO conference was organised under the theme ‘Strengthening International law Enforcement Partnerships’ by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the eve of the upcoming UN International Day of Police Cooperation. The event saw the participation of senior officers from all Central, State and Union Territory law enforcement agencies and International Police Liaison Officers from various countries. The inaugural session was virtually attended by law enforcement personnel across India and member countries of INTERPOL, EUROPOL and GloBE Network.

In his inaugural address, the Union Home Minister stressed the importance of international police cooperation in tackling the rapidly changing landscape of technology-driven crime that transcends borders. He said that the specter of transnational crime and organised crime requires real-time international police cooperation, he said.

“The international spread of crime and criminals has increased the need for investigations abroad. Prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of crime is increasingly dependent on digital evidence and evidence abroad.”

He added: “New age crimes, including cyber-enabled financial crimes, online radicalisation and transnational organised crime networks, are not limited by borders. In an increasingly interconnected world, the importance of international police cooperation cannot be overstated.”

Shri Govind Mohan stressed the need for close coordination and real-time cooperation among law enforcement agencies globally to address the imminent threats of terrorism, transnational organised crime networks, online radicalisation, illicit drug trafficking, arms trafficking, cybercrime, online sexual exploitation of children, human trafficking, wildlife and environmental crimes, economic crimes, laundering of proceeds of crime, terrorist financing, etc. There is a need for close coordination and real-time cooperation among law enforcement agencies globally.

He stressed that safe havens for crime, proceeds of crime and terrorism around the world pose a serious threat to every country. An increasingly interconnected world needs internationally connected policing. Criminals and fugitives from the law should not be given safe havens by exploiting differences in international jurisdictions and bringing them to justice.

The Union Minister of Home Affairs further elaborated on the importance of combating crimes, including terrorism, quoting from the speech of the Union Minister of Home Affairs at the closing session of the 90th INTERPOL General Assembly, who had emphatically stated: “I firmly believe that terrorism is the greatest violation of human rights”.

On the changing nature of crime, he said: “During this period, which has been marked by a revolution in data and information, the nature of crime and criminals has changed. Today, crime has become borderless and if we want to stop this kind of crime and these criminals, we all have to think beyond conventional geographical boundaries, so we have to think about it and act accordingly.”

India was one of the earliest members of INTERPOL and the Home Minister said that India is relatively more active member of INTERPOL. India has hosted several conferences including the INTERPOL General Assembly sessions twice, in 1997 and in 2022.

Elaborating on recent initiatives for international police cooperation, he stated that with the approval of MHA, a working arrangement with EUROPOL was signed by CBI in March 2024 to strengthen law enforcement cooperation between India and the EU, CBI Academy joined INTERPOL Global Academy Network in August 2023 to enhance police capacity building and India joined INTERPOL’s International Child Sexual Exploitation (ICSE) database, which provides a crucial resource in the fight against child sexual abuse and exploitation. He also underlined the importance of the Global Operation Centre, set up by CBI in 2022, stating that it handles 200-300 requests for assistance daily, both incoming and outgoing.

Referring to various sessions organised during the conference, including on international mutual legal assistance in criminal matters and the MHA portal, he added that ILOs play an important coordinating role in the implementation of letters of request and requests for mutual legal assistance.

The MHA, as India’s central authority in this regard, sends and receives all requests for assistance, either directly or through diplomatic channels. He added that the MHA has issued comprehensive guidelines detailing the procedure for examining witnesses and templates for drafting meaningful requests.

He also referred to the online portal launched in December 2022, developed by MHA in consultation with ILOs and CBI. He stressed that the portal has been a game changer in onboarding all stakeholders on one platform with a user-friendly interface.

Addressing the participants, Shri Praveen Sood, Director, CBI said, “Today’s world is confronted with a multitude of serious and globalised poly-crimes and threats such as terrorism, online radicalisation, cyber-enabled financial crime, online child sexual exploitation, corruption, drug trafficking, terror financing and organised crime. The Indian police have been at the forefront of addressing these challenges through a combination of a robust legal framework, innovative initiatives, leveraging of technology and proactive international cooperation.”

He added that “law enforcement professionals need to be well versed in the different ways of coordinating international assistance in criminal matters”.

Shri Sood stated that India joined INTERPOL in 1949 and has consistently contributed to the operational and organisational success of INTERPOL. He also said that the CBI, as the National Central Bureau for INTERPOL in India, links all law enforcement agencies at both the central and state levels through INTERPOL Liaison Officers.

He said that in 2023, the CBI’s Global Operation Centre handled 17,368 international requests for assistance and INTERPOL issued as many as 100 red notices on criminals and fugitives wanted by Indian law enforcement agencies, the highest number ever in a single year.

He also informed that with INTERPOL and international law enforcement partners, as many as 29 wanted criminals have been brought back to India in 2023 and 19 so far in 2024. Stressing the need for international cooperation in the face of the increasing prevalence of technology-enabled crimes, he said, “Criminals are no longer limited by borders, and neither are our efforts to combat them.”

Participants were briefed by MEA officials on the complexities of extradition, provisional arrest and local prosecution. Sessions were devoted to operationally utilizing INTERPOL channels, GloBE Network and investigating complex transnational crimes.

An Experts Round Table event on the theme of ‘Strengthening International Law Enforcement Partnerships’ included the participation of speakers from BKA (Germany), FBI (USA), CBI, National Police Agency (Japan), National Crime Agency (UK), PDI (Chile) and Nepal Police. The speakers stressed that the globalization of crime poses a significant challenge.

To combat these threats effectively, close cooperation and partnership with law enforcement agencies in all countries is required. The need for robust and real-time international police cooperation has never been greater.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), as the National Central Bureau (NCB New Delhi) for INTERPOL in India, links all law enforcement agencies in India, both at central and state/union territory levels, through designated INTERPOL Liaison Officers.

Since 2003, the CBI has organised the ILO Conference with the aim of significantly improving the use of formal and informal means of international police cooperation to combat crime, criminals and the proceeds of crime.