NEW DELHI: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is “aggressively” investigating the assaults on the Indian Consulate in San Francisco on March 19 and July 2 this yr, chief of premier US company Christopher Wray advised the National Investigation Agency (NIA) director common Dinkar Gupta throughout a high-level assembly on Tuesday in Delhi.

Gupta advised the delegation led by Wray, which visited NIA headquarters on Tuesday, that the nexus of terrorists and gangsters was “spreading to the US as well”.

“Christopher A Wray, Director FBI, leading a high-level FBI delegation, visited the NIA headquarters on Tuesday and held extensive discussions with NIA DG, Dinkar Gupta, and senior officials…During the meeting, candid and wide-ranging discussions were held on a host of issues, including the acts and activities of Terrorist-Organised Criminal Networks, ongoing investigations in the US in the attack on the Indian Consulate in San Francisco, investigation of cyber-terror and cyber-crimes of various kinds,” a NIA spokesperson stated in an announcement.

“Mr. Wray also informed the NIA that the FBI was aggressively investigating the attack on the Indian Consulate in San Francisco,” the spokesperson added.

The consulate was attacked by pro-Khalistan supporters on July 2 who tried to set the diplomatic facility on hearth following the killing of separatist Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. Earlier, on March 19, a bunch of pro-Khalistan protesters attacked and broken the Indian consulate in San Francisco. Raising slogans, the protesters broke open the makeshift safety obstacles raised by the native police and put in two so-called Khalistani flags contained in the consulate premises. Two consulate personnel quickly eliminated these flags.

A staff of NIA had visited San Fransisco in August to gather proof together with the CCTV footage and alternate data relating to the assaults with native legislation enforcement businesses there.

The FBI chief is on a three-day go to to the nation to satisfy prime safety and intelligence officers for discussions on strengthening mutual cooperation, sharing data, cybercrimes, extraditions and many others. He met Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director Praveen Sood on Monday.

The go to, though deliberate in May, comes in opposition to the backdrop of actions of pro-Khalistan components working from the US and Canadian soil and an indictment filed by US prosecutors in a federal court docket in Manhattan final month, which alleged an Indian authorities worker who described himself as a “senior field officer” accountable for intelligence, ordered the assassination of Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) chief Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

At Tuesday’s assembly, the NIA spokesperson stated Gupta additionally “highlighted the active nexus between the terrorist outfits and terrorist elements with members of organised criminal syndicates, which was spreading to the US as well”.

Wray underscored that each businesses have rather a lot in frequent and the similarities are far better than the variations.

“On the nexus between terror actors and organised crime syndicates, Wray said that a blending of lines between terrorists and criminals was now visible in the cyberspace as well,” NIA added.

On the influence of 9/11 assaults within the US and 26/11 Mumbai assaults, Wray underlined that these terror assaults “have changed the way in which nations respond to terror threats” and careworn the necessity to take the partnership and cooperation between the 2 businesses “to the next level to deal with the constantly evolving challenges and threats of terrorism”.

During the assembly, Gupta additionally identified that threats within the cyber area had been rising. “Digital space was also being effectively exploited by terrorists and extremists for propagating radical views and recruitment”. He additional added that NIA was seeing the usage of cryptocurrency for terrorist financing, in accordance with the spokesperson.

Wray and NIA prime brass additionally additional mentioned the usage of cybercrimes to fund terrorism. “This evolution of the cyber-threat needs a joint response towards investigation of cyber-threat cases,” Wray careworn, in accordance with the NIA assertion.

The difficulty of acquiring information from encrypted apps was additionally taken up in the course of the assembly. “The difficulties encountered by the law enforcement agencies across the world in obtaining data from encryption Apps also came up for discussion during the meeting”.

“Both the agencies recognised the challenges posed by organised crime networks, terror related crimes, cyber enabled terror attacks, ransomware threats, economic crimes and transnational terror crimes. Wray also remarked that newer challenges mean that there are new opportunities for law enforcement agencies (LEA) to cooperate in newer ways. He thanked the NIA for the enduring cooperation between the two agencies, and looked forward to exploration of new opportunities to collaborate further,” the spokesperson added.

Gupta thanked the FBI for being a really important associate within the coaching and capability constructing of Indian cops.

Both businesses agreed to discover rising their interactions and collaborative initiatives on the coaching observe.

“Director Wray’s visit signifies a step towards deepening the cooperation and shared commitment between the national agencies of US and India to combat terror in all its manifestations around the globe,” NIA stated.