FBI Director visits NIA HQ, discusses terrorist-organised crime networks, attack on San Francisco consulate

New Delhi, Dec 12 (IANS) FBI Director Christopher A. Wray on Tuesday visited the National Investigation Agency (NIA) headquarters here and met Director General Dinkar Gupta to discuss a host of issues, including activities of terrorist-organised crime networks, ongoing investigations into the attack on the Indian Consulate in San Francisco, and investigation of cyber-terror and cyber-crimes of various kinds.

A NIA spokesperson said that Wray, who was leading a high-level FBI delegation, held extensive discussions with Gupta and senior officials of the agency, during which candid and wide-ranging discussions were held.

As the NIA chief highlighted the "active nexus between the terrorist outfits and terrorist elements with members of Organised Crime Syndicates, which was spreading to the US as well", the FBI Director said that 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," Wray 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 chief 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," Gupta said, adding that the NIA was also seeing use of cryptocurrency for terrorist financing. Wray added that increasingly, cybercrimes are being committed to fund terrorism.

"This evolution of the cyber threats 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.

Both the agencies also 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 also 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 NIA chief 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 NIA official said.

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