Interpol chief wants India to share Mumbai evidence

Mar 8, 2009, 10:44 GMT

Islamabad - The global police agency Interpol on Sunday asked India to share DNA profiles obtained in the aftermath of Mumbai attacks so that these could be compared with genetic fingerprints provided by Pakistan.

Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble told reporters in Islamabad that to link the profiles forwarded by Pakistan with the Mumbai massacre, they needed to be compared with physical material and evidence seized by the Indian authorities.

'You can't do it thoroughly unless India shares the DNA profiles with Pakistan and Interpol,' Noble said.

So far Interpol has not received any information on the attacks from the Indian government or its law enforcement agencies.

Pakistan in February announced the arrest of six suspects in connection with the November 26-29 siege in India's financial capital, which it said were 'partially planned' on its soil.

The detainees included Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, head of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group. New Delhi has blamed LeT for the Mumbai attacks which left at least 170 people dead and more than 300 others injured.

A trawler used for transporting some of the attackers from the southern city of Karachi to Mumbai was among the evidence seized by the Pakistani investigators.

Pakistan earlier this week sought Interpol's help to compare its Mumbai investigation findings against the agency's global database, as it believed seven countries were linked to the Mumbai carnage. They included nations in Europe and the Middle East.

'Interpol remains ready, willing and able to facilitate such cooperation in anyway possible,' Noble said. 'Anything short of this will provide terrorists with security gaps that they will exploit at the expense of the safety of our citizens and freedom we should so much enjoy.'

Pakistani Interior Ministry's top official, Rehman Malik, asked India to urgently respond to a set of 30 queries forwarded by the Pakistani investigators after completing their initial probe.

'I will again urge my counterparts to please pay some more attention to it,' Rehman said on Sunday.

He said Pakistani investigators were left with only 13 days of remand to keep four of the Mumbai attack suspects in their custody.