New Delhi: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher A Wray on Tuesday visited the Nationwide Investigation Company (NIA) headquarters in New Delhi and held an in depth dialogue on the assault on the Indian consulate in San Francisco and the investigation of cyber-terror and cyber-crimes of assorted sorts.
FBI was “aggressively” investigating the assault on the Indian Consulate in San Francisco on March 19 and July 2 this yr, Wray advised NIA Director Normal Dinkar Gupta throughout a high-level assembly.
“Throughout the assembly, wide-ranging discussions had been held on a number of points, together with the acts and actions of terrorist-organised legal networks and ongoing investigations within the US within the assault on the Indian Consulate in San Francisco,” the NIA mentioned in a press launch.
On March 19, a bunch of pro-Khalistan protesters attacked and broken the Indian Consulate in San Francisco following the killing of separatist Khalistan Tiger Power (KTF) chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. In addition they tried to set the Consulate constructing on hearth by sprinkling inflammable substances early within the morning.
Subsequently on July 2 at midnight, just a few unidentified attackers tried to set the consulate constructing on hearth.
“Wray additionally knowledgeable the NIA that the FBI was aggressively investigating the assault on the Indian Consulate in San Francisco,” the assertion added.
The federal company mentioned that Wray’s go to signifies a step in the direction of deepening the cooperation and shared dedication between the nationwide companies of the US and India to fight terror in all its manifestations across the globe.
FBI Director Wray Visits NIA HQrs, Holds Intensive Deliberations with NIA DG pic.twitter.com/BCkMxZWxDD
— NIA India (@NIA_India) December 12, 2023
Throughout the assembly, Gupta highlighted the energetic nexus of terrorist teams and parts with members of organised legal syndicates, which was spreading to the US as nicely.
The FBI Director’s go to to NIA Headquarters comes simply weeks after Washington alleged an Indian hyperlink to a foiled plot to kill Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil.
India has already constituted a probe crew to analyze the allegations.
Wray mentioned each the companies have rather a lot in widespread and the similarities are far better than the variations. “On the nexus between terror actors and organised crime syndicates, Wray mentioned {that a} mixing of strains between terrorists and criminals was now seen within the our on-line world as nicely,” NIA added.
Terror incidents like 9/11 and the Mumbai assaults have modified the way in which through which nations reply to terror threats, Wray noticed, emphasising on the necessity to take the partnership and cooperation between the FBI and the NIA to the following stage to cope with the consistently evolving challenges and threats of terrorism.
“Throughout the assembly, the NIA DG identified that threats within the cyber area had been growing. Digital house was additionally being successfully exploited by terrorists and extremists for propagating radical views and recruitment, he mentioned, including that NIA was additionally seeing use of cryptocurrency for terrorist financing,” in response to the assertion.
Wray mentioned more and more, cybercrimes are being dedicated to fund terrorism.
“This evolution of the cyber-threat wants a joint response in the direction of investigation of cyber-threat instances,” he confused.
The difficulties encountered by regulation enforcement companies the world over in acquiring information from encryption apps additionally got here up for dialogue throughout the assembly.
The 2 sides famous that with the arrival of newer applied sciences at a quick tempo, tracing, monitoring and investigating crypto transactions is popping out to be an enormous problem, NIA mentioned.
“Each the companies recognised the challenges posed by organised crime networks, terror associated crimes, cyber enabled terror assaults, ransomware threats, financial crimes and transnational terror crimes,” the assertion additional said.
Wray thanked the NIA for the enduring cooperation between the 2 companies, and regarded ahead to exploration of latest alternatives to collaborate additional.
The DG NIA thanked the FBI for being a really important associate within the coaching and capability constructing of Indian law enforcement officials.