FBI director visits NIA HQs, highlights need to take partnership to next level to counter terrorism

New Delhi: FBI Director Christopher A Wray visited the NIA headquarters here on Tuesday and emphasised the need to take the partnership between the US and India to the next level to deal with constantly-evolving challenges and threats of terrorism, an official said.

The attack on the Indian consulate in San Francisco and investigation of cyber-terror and cyber-crimes of various kind came up for detailed discussion.

The official said Wray's visit signifies a step towards deepening the cooperation and shared commitment between the national agencies of the US and India to combat terror in all its manifestations around the globe.

Director General of National Investigation Agency (NIA) Dinkar Gupta highlighted the active nexus of terrorist groups and elements with members of organised criminal syndicates, which was spreading to the US as well.

During the meeting, the official said candid and wide-ranging discussions were held on a host of issues, including acts and activities of terrorist-organised criminal networks.

The meeting comes close on the heels of Washington's allegations about an Indian link to a foiled plot to kill Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil.

India has already constituted a probe team to investigate the allegations.

Wray said both the agencies have a lot in common and the similarities are far greater than the differences.

On the nexus between terror actors and organised crime syndicates, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director said a blending of lines between terrorists and criminals was now visible in the cyberspace as well.

Terror incidents like 9/11 and the Mumbai attacks have changed the way in which nations respond to terror threats, he observed, emphasising on the need to take the partnership and cooperation between the FBI and the NIA to the next level to deal with the constantly evolving challenges and threats of terrorism.

During the meeting, the NIA DG pointed out that threats in the cyber domain were increasing.

Digital space was also being effectively exploited by terrorists and extremists for propagating radical views and recruitment, he said, adding that NIA was also seeing use of cryptocurrency for terrorist financing.

Wray said increasingly, cybercrimes are being committed to fund terrorism.

'This evolution of the cyber-threat needs a joint response towards investigation of cyber-threat cases,' he stressed.

The difficulties encountered by law enforcement agencies across the world in obtaining data from encryption apps also came up for discussion during the meeting.

The two sides noted that with the advent of newer technologies at a fast pace, tracing, tracking and investigating crypto transactions is turning out to be a huge challenge, the official said.

The official said both the agencies recognised the challenges posed by organised crime networks, terror related crimes, cyber enabled terror attacks, ransomware threats, economic crimes and transnational terror crimes.

Wray also remarked that newer challenges mean that there are new opportunities for law enforcement agencies to cooperate in newer ways.

He thanked the NIA for the enduring cooperation between the two agencies, and looked forward to exploration of new opportunities to collaborate further.

Wray also informed the NIA that the FBI was aggressively investigating the attack on the Indian Consulate in San Francisco.

The Consulate General of India in San Francisco was attacked on March 19 by a group of assailants who committed criminal trespass, damaged public property, and attacked officials of the consulate. They also attempted to set the Consulate building on fire by sprinkling inflammable substances early in the morning.

Subsequently on July 2 at midnight, a few unidentified attackers attempted to set the consulate building on fire.

The DG NIA thanked the FBI for being a very significant partner in the training and capacity building of Indian police officers.

Both agencies agreed to explore increasing its future interactions and collaborative initiatives on the training track, the official said.