INTERPOL - INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
News:
Interpol takes down Red Notice against Mehul Choksi
What's in the news?
● In
a major setback to Indian agencies, the Interpol has taken down from its
website the Red Notice against fugitive diamond merchant Mehul Choksi, who is
wanted in connection with the ₹13,578-crore Punjab National Bank fraud cases.
Interpol - Backdrop:
● Set
up in 1923.
● Interpol
is a secure information-sharing platform
that facilitates criminal investigation of police forces across the globe
through collection and dissemination of information received from various
police forces.
● Headquarter
- Lyon, France.
● It
keeps track of the movements of criminals and those under the police radar in
various regions and tips off police forces which had either sought the
Interpol’s assistance or which in its opinion will benefit from the particulars
available with it.
● Aided
by state-of-the art databases and computer analytics, the Interpol operates
round the clock and employs some of the best minds in the area of crime
analysis and technology.
● It
aims to promote the widest-possible mutual assistance between criminal police
forces.
Organization:
● The
head of Interpol is the President
who is elected by the General Assembly.
He comes from one of the member-nations and holds office for four years.
● The
day-to-day activities are overseen by a full-time Secretary General elected by the General Assembly, who holds office for
five years.
● The
General Assembly lays down the policy for execution by its Secretariat which
has several specialized directorates for cybercrime, terrorism, drug
trafficking, financial crime, environmental crime, human trafficking, etc.
Members:
● Every
member-country is the Interpol’s face in that country.
● 195 members.
● All
contact of a country’s law enforcement agency with Interpol is through the
highest investigating body of the land.
● The
CBI assumes this role in India with one of its senior officers heading its
exclusive Inter-wing (the National Central Bureaus) for collation of
information and liaison with the world body.
Red Notice:
● It
is a structured communication issued by the Interpol to all member-nations notifying the names of persons against whom
an arrest warrant is pending in a particular country.
● The
notice issued requests all member nations that if the named individual is
located in their country an immediate communication should be sent to the
nation that wants him in connection with a criminal investigation.
Challenges of Interpol:
● The
rising specter of transnational, cyber
and organized crime requires a globally coordinated law enforcement
response.
● Interpol
has a legacy of trust and reliability.
● It
needs to acquire powers of sanction against a country which refuses to
cooperate in implementing a Red notice.
● It
is however highly unlikely that member-nations will ever agree to dilute their
sovereignty and invest the Interpol with such authority.