NEW DELHI, AUG 20: India has decided to take up the sensitive issue of non-compliance of Interpol red corner notices by certain member countries at the Interpol meet to be held in Delhi in October this year. Most of these red corner notices have been issued against criminals wanted for serious offences in India but hiding in countries which do not take these notices seriously.According to deputy inspector general, Central Bureau of Investigation, Neeraj Kumar, who is also the chief coordinator of the Interpol meet to be held in the second week of October, the non-compliance of these notices had seriously hampered investigations in many sensitive cases. It was therefore decided to take up this issue with other member countries to evolve proper mechanism and ensure implementation of these notices.According to the CBI, one proposal to be put up at the meeting is to give red corner notices a ``legal status'' which would ensure that governments of all countries take it seriously. So far compliance with these notices has not been binding on member countries.In the past, several criminals, high on the wanted list in India, have sought refuge in certain Gulf countries and have evaded arrest despite Interpol warrants against them because the countries where the criminals were hiding, refused to execute these warrants. Among those on this list are underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and the Tiger Memmon family, both wanted for their role in the Bombay blasts in 1993, and Ameer Bhai.DIG Kumar, while pointing out that these countries were ``aberrations'', conceded that fugitives on the run from India often hide in these very countries knowing full well that they were safe there.However, even in those countries where these red corner notices were implemented, the accused managed to go scot free due to the laws prevailing in those countries or on some technical point. Among them were Iqbal Mirchi and Anees Ibrahim, both of whom were arrested on the basis of Interpol warrants but could not be extradited to India. Other issues to be discussed at the annual Interpol meet, which begins in New Delhi on October 15, include international terrorism, money laundering and global drug trafficking especially in countries bordering India and in the Central Asian Republics.Addressing media-persons on the occasion, Interpol representative R Sunderalingam, noted that the meet would also focus on urban crime which had spread its tentacles in all parts of the world. A former Sri Lankan police officer, Sunderalingam is at present an advisor to Interpol on drug-related matters.So far, over 100 of the total 180 member countries have confirmed their participation in the meet, organised by the CBI on behalf on all enforcement agencies in the country at a cost of over Rs one crore.
