Easy foreign travel, advanced technology pose challenges in handling international crime: Bhalla

Inaugurating the seventh conference of Interpol Liaison Officers (ILOs) organised by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on virtual platform, Bhalla said the international cooperation for law enforcement purposes has become more relevant now when movement of Indian citizens was increasing across the globe. "Ever changing technological scenario, ease of foreign travel, information and communication revolution have all created rising challenges when handling crimes with international linkages," he said.

Easy foreign travel coupled with technological advancements have posed new challenges in handling crimes with international linkages, Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla said on Friday. Inaugurating the seventh conference of Interpol Liaison Officers (ILOs) organised by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on virtual platform, Bhalla said the international cooperation for law enforcement purposes has become more relevant now when movement of Indian citizens was increasing across the globe.

"Ever changing technological scenario, ease of foreign travel, information and communication revolution have all created rising challenges when handling crimes with international linkages," he said. Interpol Liaison Officers are designated police officers in states and Union territories who liaison with the CBI in the matters related to INTERPOL.

The CBI, being the central bureau of the country, represents India in the INTERPOL--international police co-operation agency headquartered in Lyon, France --and is responsible for all matters related to coordination with the international body. "The increased movement of Indian citizens globally has placed added responsibility on us to have international police cooperation arrangements to cater to the safety and security needs of the citizens travelling abroad and similarly extend the same courtesy to police cooperation requests received from other countries.

“Thus, international cooperation for law enforcement purposes has become more relevant now," Bhalla said. The home secretary said India will be hosting the INTERPOL General Assembly in 2022 at New Delhi which will coincide with the celebrations for 75th year of India's independence.

The gathering is likely to see attendance of representatives from 194 Interpol member countries. In his valedictory address, CBI director Rishi Kumar Shukla said for the first time ever, the ILO conference has been held over a virtual platform.

"During the recent years, especially over the last two decades, rapid technological transformations in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) domain, ease of global travel, a global financial system that is highly interconnected and emergence of organised crime with international linkages; has increased the complexity of policing across the country," he said. Shukla said every police agency in the country needed to develop a specialised and highly trained unit which was well versed with use of formal international police cooperation mechanisms like use of letters rogatory and Mutual Legal Assistance Requests, and also in utilising informal police cooperation channels like INTERPOL.

The first ILO conference by the CBI took place in 2003. PTI ABS SRY