Organised criminal syndicates, running drugs or guns and feeding into terrorist networks, acting as mercenaries most times, are a rising headache for governments worldwide, whether it is India or the United States. These mercenaries mostly exaggerate their role and access on foreign soils and become part of larger organised syndicates with transnational networks.
Indian law enforcement agencies have busted many of such networks. However, the concerns are likely to be flagged by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chiefs when they meet FBI director Christopher Wray who is expected to visit India next week.
US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti spoke about Wray’s visit at a Carnegie event in the capital. This has triggered speculation whether the FBI chief was here on a visit linked to the controversial allegations of a threat to life to NIA’s wanted pro-Khalistani operative Gurpatwant Pannu—a dual citizen of the US and Canada—who has been issuing threats to India sitting on foreign soil.
The meeting had been planned sometime back, sources said. The Indian agencies do not intend to take up Pannun’s matter directly given the fact that the US agencies have already filed an indictment in a US court and the matter is being discussed at the highest levels, a charge rubbished by New Delhi since the beginning.
They are, however, expected to discuss is the need to strengthen international anti-terror cooperation between the federal agencies. It is here that the CBI and the NIA are expected to share concerns over the alleged links of gangsters here, with some even in jail, with gang wars and killings taking place on foreign soils. The CBI has geo-located 184 fugitives while the NIA has registered a fresh case against Pannun for his threats to Air India passengers.
Pannun had also threatened top government functionaries during the G20 summit. His latest threat is an attack on Indian parliament on December 13.
The FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration in the United States have been leading drug trafficking investigations and it is not the first time that their expertise in using “confidential sources” has come to light in the indictment filed in the US district court, which talks of an alleged Indian connection in the Pannun case.
For counter terror purposes, the US agencies may be able to shed more light on whether any of the so called confidential sources could be part of the gang wars or organised crime syndicates that further link to the criminal activities within the country, prompting New Delhi to raise national security concerns with their counterparts in the US.
Incidentally, the FBI chief’s visit is likely to take place in a week when the Delhi police is on a high alert to prevent any law and order problem in the backdrop of Pannun’s threat to attack parliament which had previously witnessed terror strike on December 13, 2001.
