Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Union Home Secretary inaugurated the Interpol Liaison Officers Workshop organised by CBI in New Delhi Tuesday on the subject “LRs/MLAT AND EXTRADITION MATTERS”. 

The participants including Interpol Liaison Officers(ILOs) from States, Union Territories, other Law Enforcement Agencies(LEAs) & officers from CBI attended the Workshop.

Speaking on the occasion, he also said that Union Home Ministry has designed a new online portal for Mutual Legal Assistant Treaty(MLAT) / Letter Rogatory(LR) requests which can be utilised for the purpose and assured further assistance, if needed. 

For effective law enforcement in respect of crimes having transnational footprints, Shri Bhalla emphasised the need to further impart training on LRs and MLATs to personnel in the law enforcement chain and offered all assistance in this regard including organising workshops/conferences in the States. 

Union Home Secretary further stressed that the request from other countries for legal assistance should also be treated as a priority as part of reciprocity. He invited feedback and practical suggestions for improving the efficacy of international cooperation channels for assistance in criminal matters.  

It was underlined that LEAs should make use of informal channels of police cooperation for seeking & sharing information on I 24X7 platform of Interpol through CBI as NCB India. The workshop also focussed on utilising Interpol Notices and drafting requests focusing on crime. 

The one-day workshop deliberated on the subject “Presentation on Guidelines of MLA/LRs & Procedural aspects of drafting LRs/MLA requests; Presentation on new MLA/LR portal, Presentation on extradition guidelines & procedural aspect of drafting extradition requests; Informal Cooperation through Interpol and points to be kept in mind while making request for Interpol Matters”.