ISLAMABAD: Interpol Secretary-General Ronald Noble said yesterday that Pakistan had agreed to provide DNA profiles and other data on suspected terrorists it obtained during a probe into the Mumbai attacks.

“Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) will send Interpol the DNA profiles that it obtained during its investigation,” Noble told a news conference after talks with Pakistani officials.

Interpol is a global organization that facilitates cooperation among police forces of member countries. The profiles will be compared against the “world's only global DNA database containing more than 83,000 DNA profiles,” he added. “Information exchanged through the Interpol data could not only result in potential breakthroughs in the Pakistani investigation but will also help other police forces protect their citizens from terrorist attacks,” he observed.

Noble said he would like India also to provide similar details.

He said he wanted India to share DNA profiles obtained in the aftermath of Mumbai attacks so that these could be compared with genetic fingerprints provided by Pakistan.

Noble said that to link the profiles forwarded by Pakistan with the Mumbai massacre, they needed to be compared with physical material and evidence seized by the Indian authorities.

“You can't do it thoroughly unless India shares the DNA profiles with Pakistan and Interpol,” Noble said. “In order for these comparisons to be complete India will be required to send Interpol the DNA profiles that they obtained in their investigation.” The Mumbai attacks that left nearly 200 dead have been blamed by New Delhi on the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

The FIA has already given Interpol a copy of its investigation report into the Mumbai attacks, which Noble said his organization was grateful for.

“For the first time in the three months since those deadly attacks occurred, Interpol has received police information of paramount importance,” he said.

“For the first time we have police information on those who planned, facilitated and funded those attacks,” he said.

“For the first time, we have detailed information about telephone numbers, bank accounts used in terrorist financing as well as Internet addresses and the equipment and material used to perpetrate these attacks,” he said.

“Already Pakistan’s FIA has established links to seven countries including India and countries in the heart of Europe and the Middle East,” he added.

So far Interpol has not received any information on the attacks from the Indian government or its law enforcement agencies.

Pakistan in February announced the arrest of six suspects in connection with the Nov. 26-29 siege in India's financial capital, which it said were “partially planned” on its soil. The detainees included Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, head of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group.

A trawler used for transporting some of the attackers from the southern city of Karachi to Mumbai was among the evidence seized by the Pakistani investigators.

Pakistan earlier this week sought Interpol's help to compare its Mumbai investigation findings against the agency's global database, as it believed seven countries were linked to the Mumbai carnage.

They included nations in Europe and the Middle East.

“Interpol remains ready, willing and able to facilitate such cooperation in anyway possible,” Noble said. “Anything short of this will provide terrorists with security gaps that they will exploit at the expense of the safety of our citizens and freedom we should so much enjoy.”

Pakistani Interior Ministry’s top official, Rehman Malik, asked India to urgently respond to a set of 30 queries forwarded by the Pakistani investigators after completing their initial probe.

“I will again urge my counterparts to please pay some more attention to it,” Rehman said at the press conference.

He said Pakistani investigators were left with only 13 days of remand to keep four of the Mumbai attack suspects in their custody. The November siege soured a five-year peace process between the South Asian rivals.

Both LeT and Pakistan have denied any involvement but Islamabad admitted last month for the first time that the strikes were partly planned on its soil.

— Input from agencies