After Passport Check alarm:

Terror suspect arrested in Maldives

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - A Maldivian national wanted in connection with a 2007 terror bombing attack has been arrested less than six hours after his passport triggered an INTERPOL alarm as he travelled from Pakistan to the Maldives via Sri Lanka, states an Interpol media release.

Iqbal Mohamed

Iqbal Mohamed, the subject of an INTERPOL Red Notice for internationally wanted persons issued at the request of the Maldives National Central Bureau (NCB), was identified by INTERPOL’s Major Events Support Team (IMEST) deployed to Sri Lanka for the Cricket World Cup during a routine check of Colombo airport passenger manifests.

After confirming Mohamed’s identity, the IMEST liaised with Colombo International Airport the CID and the NCBs in Colombo and Male to monitor the 42-year-old’s transit and eventual arrival at Male International airport where he was taken into custody in the early hours of Thursday, March 10.

INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K Noble hailed the arrest as a ‘model example’ of what can be achieved through police co-operation and information sharing using INTERPOL’s global tools and resources.

“Our National Central Bureau in Male had ensured that the key elements for this arrest were already in place - he was subject to an INTERPOL Red Notice, his passport details were in our Stolen and Lost Travel Documents database, but what brought this all together, the ‘x factor’, was the presence of our IMEST in Sri Lanka is providing support for the cricket world cup,” said the INTERPOL chief.

As part of its support for the 2011 Cricket World Cup security arrangements, INTERPOL deployed IMESTs to all three sites - Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka - with each team providing on the ground support to national police, including conducting real-time checks of INTERPOL’s global databases.