The Interpol on Wednesday said the red corner notice against the accused in the Bofors case Ottavio Quattrocchi, who was let off recently after being detained in Argentina, was still "operational".

"The Interpol warrant is not withdrawn until asked by the requesting country," Secretary General of Interpol Ronald K Noble told reporters in Delhi.

The chief of the world police organisation said it was on the basis of the Interpol red corner notice that Italian businessman Quattrocchi had been detained in Malaysia and very recently in Argentina.

The accused can be "cornered" in one country and later it depends on the legal process of the detaining and requesting countries as to how the accused could be brought before the law, Noble, who was flanked by CBI Director Vijay Shankar, said.

While there was no legal sanctity for the red corner notice, it was still helpful in cornering an accused in view of an alert generated by the world police, he said adding, "If one country does not acknowledge the red corner notice, the other country will."

He said any person wanted by the Interpol could not travel freely.

Shankar did not make any comment on the Quattrocchi issue.

Quattrocchi walked free from Argentina on August 15, 2007, after being detained there for nearly six months, as the Indian government did not appeal against the lower court's decision oppososing his extradition to India.