UK cops in Jammu and Kashmir to nab criminal fugitives

The Times of India ^ | October 12 2003 | IANS

[knighthawk]

LONDON: A British police force is planning to open a station in Jammu and Kashmir to tackle criminals who flee there after committing crimes in Britain or target Britain from the Kashmir, according to a media report.

West Midlands Police will set up the new base, which will be the first overseas station for British police, in Srinagar, The Telegraph reported on Sunday.

British police officers in Kashmir will not carry weapons but will be accompanied by armed troops and Indian police officers on operations. Only the Indian officers will have full police powers, including that of arrest.

The force claims the station is necessary to catch the growing number of Indians who commit offences in Britain and then flee to Kashmir, and to cut costs on sending police officers to India on the trail of criminals who have fled Britain.

The report said West Yorkshire Police, which is experiencing similar problems, too is interested in opening a station in India.

The report said Indian police had expressed enthusiasm for the plan. An unnamed spokesman was quoted as saying: "We always work closely with our British colleagues and this sounds like an interesting plan with which we would cooperate."

Sgt. Asghar Shah, the officer behind the scheme, said Home Secretary David Blunkett had expressed support for the scheme when informed of it at last months' National Black Police Association conference.

But the new station will mean that British officers are deployed in one of the world's most dangerous places for law enforcement officials. The paper reported over 170 Indian police officers have been killed by terrorists in Kashmir since 1989.

Over 500,000 people in Britain are thought to have family links with the Kashmir region.

During the past three years, murders, extortion, immigration offences and illegal drugs crimes are believed to have been committed in West Midlands by Indian nationals who have fled to the subcontinent.

At least five British police forces have sent officers to Kashmir during inquiries over the past 12 months, at a cost of over £100,000.

Under the West Midland force's plan, up to 28 officers will be based in Srinagar, about half of whom will be British. The remainder will be seconded from Indian police, the report said.

The station will cost about £200,000 to set up and run for a year, but the force believes money will be saved in the long term because it will no longer have to fly officers to India.

Sgt. Shah told the paper that having trained staff in Kashmir would help officers in inquiries into murders and financial crimes committed in Britain but linked to that region. He said the West Midlands force spent thousands of pounds each year sending officers to Kashmir during investigations.

"It would enable us to train local police to our standard, so that we improve their standard of investigation and so that we can be sure all Indian officers are doing the same job as our officers would be over there," he said.

Shah said that one detective from West Midlands had already been to Kashmir three or four times this year at a cost of over £5,000 a time.

[knighthawk]

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