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Delhi car blast: Interpol issues Red Corner notices against 4 Iranians

March 23, 2012 15:18 IST

The Interpol has issued Red Corner notices against four Iranians wanted in connection with the bomb attack on an Israeli diplomat in Delhi in March.

The Interpol issued the look-out notices against Houshang Afshar Irani, Syed Ali Mahdiansadr, Mohammadreza Abolghasemi and Masoud Sedaghatzadeh, who was arrested by the Malaysian police from Kuala Lumpur airport on the request of the Central Bureau of Investigation.

On the basis of a request made by the Delhi police, the CBI had requested the Interpol to issue Red Corner notices against them as they were believed to be behind the attack, sources said.

An Interpol Red Corner notice is the closest instrument to an international arrest warrant. It requests provisional arrest of wanted persons with a view to extraditing them.

Delhi Police Commissioner B K Gupta had claimed that the Iranians had allegedly conducted reconnaissance of the Israeli embassy earlier with the help of an Indian journalist Syed Ahemed Kazmi, who was arrested on March 6.

The police had claimed that the module, which attacked the Israeli embassy car on February 13 on Aurangazeb Road injuring a mission employee and three others, had conducted a reconnaissance of the mission office in May last year, before returning to check again in January and February.

Investigators have claimed they tracked Kazmi after the arrest of Masoud Sedaghatzadeh, the operational head of the module which carried out the attack in Bangkok.

According to police sources, Sedaghatzadeh was allegedly in touch with Irani and technical surveillance of Irani led the police to his purported links with Kazmi.

Israeli diplomat Tal Yehoshua and an Indian driver of the embassy vehicle were among the four people injured in the February 13 blast after a magnetic bomb stuck to the vehicle went off.

In a release, Interpol Secretary General Ronald K Noble said India's request for the Red Corner notices would make it extremely difficult for the suspects to travel internationally in an attempt to evade capture.

"Through requesting Interpol Red notices, India has ensured that law enforcement officials around the globe are alerted to the wanted status of these fugitives, and, therefore reduces their options for international travel," Noble said in the statement.

"Interpol is uniquely placed to ensure that vital police information and support are made available to the global law enforcement community when and where it is needed," he said.

Details of Mohammadreza Abolghashemi, Houshang Afshar Irani, Seyed Ali Mahdiansadr and Masoud Sedaghatzadeh, who are all wanted for terrorism-related offences including criminal conspiracy and attempted murder, have been transmitted to 190 member countries of the Interpol.

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