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| Sunday, 16 January 2005 |
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Interpol pledges full support for local Police by Jayampathy Jayasinghe A new computer network linking the Police Headquarters Colombo and the Interpol Headquarters in Paris have been set up following the visit of the Interpol's Secretary General Ronald Nobal to Sri Lanka last week. The network will help facilitate exchange of information especially with regard to missing tsunami victims. The Secretary General of the Interpol Headquarters, Ronald Nobal, who was in Sri Lanka had visited the devastated areas in the south and pledged full support of his organisation to the local police in terms of providing communication equipment to facilitate communication operations. Secretary General Ronald Nobal, speaking at a media conference at the Police Headquarters in Colombo said it was necessary to gather passports, jewellery, fingerprints, dental records, identity cards to conduct DNA test, of missing persons for the purpose of identifying them. In some cases there weren't any records to show of countries where tourists had visited during the tsunami tragedy. IGP, Chandra Fernando said the Interpol's Secretary General was on fact finding mission and to learn how the local police handled rescue operations following the tsunami disaster. The Secretary General had pledged to provide the police with communication equipment needed for rescue operation. A large number of police personnel have been deployed in search operations in tsunami affected areas, he said. The IGP said that of the three unidentified bodies found last Tuesday, two had been sent to Colombo for DNA testing. Several forensic experts from England, France, Holland and Germany had arrived in the country to help to conduct forensic tests to identify missing persons." He said that steps will be taken to hand over the personnal belongings of foreigners killed in the tsunami disaster to the next of kin through Interpol headquarters. We have already had discussions with travel agents and the Department of Immigration and Emigration in this regard. Meanwhile due to debris being cleared in a haphazard way Police have a difficult task in collecting information with regard to missing persons of the tsunami disaster. According to police, bodies of most missing persons of the tsunami tragedy have not yet been found. However the data base set up at the Police Headquarters will help compile items of such persons that would eventually lead to identification of such persons. Meanwhile, police search operation teams are presently engaged in collecting debris from tsunami affected areas for clues to identify missing persons. It was learnt that a host of problems would arise in future with regard to settlement of insurance and other claims in respect of missing foreign and local nationals. Therefore identification of missing persons would be of importance to kith and kin of missing persons. IGP Chandra Fernando said that debris from disaster sites should not be cleared haphazardly as it could destroy vital evidence with regard to identification of persons. A British forensic expert is already assisting the local police to identify such persons, he said. |
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