11/7: Scotland Yard comes calling

Anupam Dasgupta/Raju Parulekar

Deputy Commanding Officer of the Anti-terrorist Branch of Scotland Yard Stuart Harrison met Commissioner AN Roy and Chief of Anti-terrorism Squad KP Raghuvanshi on Thursday and discussed plans of using various pre-emptive strategies geared towards thwarting international terrorism.

Raghuvanshi said Harrison inquired how the 11/7 investigations were handled by the Maharashtra police. Harrison was apprised about the nuances of the July blasts probe — the larger conspiracy and the involvement of terrorist outfits — and how the various agencies coordinated to make significant breakthrough.

The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (Jtac) of the British police deals with offences related to international and domestic terrorism. The Jtac also analyses and interprets intelligence inputs across England. Harrison had been touring India of late to foster better coordinating between the police forces of the two countries, a source said. 

He said Harrison had shown an interest in sharing relevant data to curb terrorist strikes. Although the meeting was at an informal level, the source said efforts were on to put in place a “joint action plan” to tackle terrorism related offences between the two countries.

The officers talked about the growing menace of “home-grown terrorism” and the need to chalk out joint strategies to counter it.