Wednesday, February 27, 2008 (Mumbai)

It seems that even the Interpol is helpless when it comes to the fugitive Don Dawood Ibrahim. Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, the Interpol chief Ronald Nobel said there is little they can do.Mafia boss Dawood Ibrahim is a man wanted by India for 15 years. A tug of war between Interpol, the world's premier intelligence agency and Pakistan, where the fugitive gangster allegedly enjoys sanctuary. It is a standoff that boils down to Dawood's Karachi residence. In a special notice issued in April 2006, Dawood's address listed on the Interpol website was Karachi. And though Pakistan has asked the agency to delete the address, Interpol clearly hasn't. Instead, Interpol chief Ronald Nobel throws the ball back in Pakistan's court.''If sovereign countries like this do something, this man would have been caught,'' said Ronald Nobel, Secretary-General, Interpol.Till date, three notices issued by Interpol against Dawood, the first a red corner notice issued after the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts and later, in 2003, the US labelled Dawood as a global terrorist. And then came the above mentioned special notice in April 2003, with the contentious address.With even with the global intelligence agency looking helpless against the likes of Dawood, it will be a long wait to see the home-grown Don return home.