India and Europol have come together for the first time to share real-time information and access each other’s crime databases with a purpose to assist the agencies on both sides to have better coordination in cases pertaining to terrorism, money laundering, organised crimes and cyber crimes.
- The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will be the nodal agency to coordinate with Europol and for any information sought by the Indian police or other central agencies.
- The two sides finalised an agreement in this regard during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of recently concluded 90th Interpol General Assembly, held in New Delhi from October 18 to 21.
- The Hague-headquartered Europol was officially created in 1999 to assist EU member countries in the fight against transnational crimes.
- It operates through more than 1,000 staff, over 200 liaison officers and supports over 40,000 international investigations every year.
- Outside the EU zone, it has working arrangements with several countries including the UK, Qatar, Mexico, New Zealand, Israel, Japan, Armenia and others.
