Interpol issues notice against
Kandahar hijackers: PTI
Sumir Kaul in New Delhi
Interpol has issued a "look-out" notice against five hijackers of an Indian Airlines plane in December last and two of their accomplices, Central Bureau of Investigation sources said.
The agency had approached Interpol for issuance of a red corner notice against Ibrahim Athar, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Zahoor Ibrahim, Shahid Akhter and Sayed Shakir -- and accomplices Yusuf Azhar and Abdul Rauf, they said.
Azhar and Rauf are believed to be key conspirators behind the hijacking of the plane from Kathmandu to Kandahar in southern Afghanistan on December 24 last year.
The alert had been sounded pending formalities that were
to be completed by the international organisation. The
sources said Interpol had alerted airports, ports and major
railway stations about the hijackers and their accomplices.
CBI Director R K Raghavan raised the matter with
Interpol officials during the 69th annual conference of the
international organisation in Athens.
However, sources said there was little hope of
catching them even after issuance of a red corner notice as
several countries did not comply with the warrant from the
international organisation.
The sources said despite a resolution to make mandatory
warrants of the Interpol at its annual 1997 conference, held
in New Delhi, several countries were yet to ratify it to make
an appropriate law.
The CBI on June 21 filed a chargesheet against 10 people
in the hijacking case which included these seven and three
Indians.
The Indian authorities had also made a formal request to
Pakistan for extradition of five hijackers and two of their
accomplices responsible for hijacking of the plane.
The requests have been made under the SAARC and the Hague agreements under which Pakistan has the obligation to
extradite them, CBI sources said.
The CBI which had approached through the Ministry of
External Affairs the Pakistani authorities about the
extradition of five persons, has, however, not received
any response.
The Indians chargesheeted are Abdul Latif
alias Patel, Bhupalmar Damai alias Yusuf Nepali and Dilip
Kumar Bhujel, the agency sources said and claimed that all three had confessed to their involvement.
All three are in CBI custody, while the other seven
are absconding and believed to be in Pakistan.
The sources said the agency was probing a mysterious
call made to Amritsar airport when the plane had landed there
briefly on December 24 before flying to Lahore in Pakistan.
The caller, identifying himself as a joint secretary in
the Ministry of Home Affairs, had ordered the airport
authorities to allow the plane to take off.
They said it was difficult to trace the caller as there
was no record available with the Amritsar telephone department
as to where the call had been made from.
NIGHTMARE ON FLIGHT 814
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