Police fail to extract information from foreign nationals because the language facilitators lack interrogation skills.
Foreign language interpreters are not providing much help in carrying out investigation in cases in which the accused are foreigners. Besides police, special cells and central agencies have also been facing the same problem. The interpreters are unable to extract enough details or get the accused to divulge particulars about their accomplices.
For instance, the crime branch officials are facing difficulty in gathering information from the four foreigners involved in the multi-crore diamond heist. The interpreters, entrusted with the responsibility of extracting information from the Mexicans and Venezuelan, are not professionals and hence are not proving to be of much help.
The interrogators faced similar issues in the recent drug labs busted by the Narcotic Control Bureau, in which six Iranians and a Colombian were arrested. Investigators said they faced difficulty in getting the accused to divulge information about their modus operandi, techniques of manufacturing the drug and their smuggling network in India.
An NCB officer said: “Though interpreters ask the accused questions which we tell them to ask, it is very difficult to get the right answers, as they do not cooperate and most of the time they do not answer. This is a major problem because usually we do not use interpreters to quiz an accused.”
The crime branch often takes the help of language students. “We have two interpreters, who are students from Mumbai University. But because they are rookies, they are unable to extract much from the hardened criminals,” said a crime branch official.
The NCB officer, who has a similar view, says most interpreters are not professionals and they lack interrogation skills. “The interpreters are not too well-versed with the language as they are still learning it. We have to give them a list of questions to ask the accused. By the time they complete the sentence, the accused have enough time to think and reply accordingly,” the officer said.
The investigators said the Iranian nationals nabbed have not been answering questions asked by the interpreters and also many have been sent to judicial custody now. So, getting any further information from them is not possible. Also, till date nothing is known as to who was supposed to get the metamphetamine manufactured in the lab busted at Asangaon.
Likewise, the four arrested in the Rs6.6-crore diamond heist case — Guerrero Lugo Elivia Grissel (24), Campos Molan Elias (39), Gonzalez Maldonado Mauricio (24) and Gutierrez Orlando (30) — are not answering questions. The first three are Mexicans and the fourth is from Venezuela. They were arrested from Dubai, after a lookout notice was issued against them by Interpol.
Investigators probing cases involving Nigerian peddlers in the city also face a similar problem. An ANC officer said: “Though many of them [Nigerians] are fluent in English, they pretend as if they don’t.”
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}