No threat to Cricket World Cup: Interpol tells India

Interpol, the world police organisation, on Wednesday conveyed to India that there was no threat to the ongoing Cricket World Cup and media reports in this regard were 'absolutely wrong'.

Interpol conveyed this to the CBI this afternoon, saying there was no intelligence input from their side which suggested any terror strikes on the ongoing cricketing tournament, the agency said.

The CBI said that a telephonic message was received this afternoon in which the Interpol said that it had 'not issued any arrest warrant against anyone and that media reports were absolutely wrong.'

The world police organisation also issued a statement in in which it flatly denied issuing any arrest warrant against any national of Maldives.

"Interpol's general secretariat headquarters and its Major Event Support Teams (IMESTs) deployed to the host countries for the 2011 Cricket World Cup (Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka) continue to work with all of INTERPOL's 188 member countries to help ensure that the 2011 Cricket World Cup remains safe and secure for participants, officials and spectators.

"In this respect, an article entitled 'Interpol on the hunt for two Maldivians involved in planning Cricket World Cup attack' and published in the newspaper Haveeru on March 26, 2011 in the Maldives contains serious inaccuracies which require a correction by the newspaper and an express denial from Interpol," the statement said.

The article that appeared in a Maldivian newspaper said two Maldivian nationals, who are believed to be connected to a Pakistani terrorist group, are now wanted by the Interpol for conspiring to attack international cricketers during the ongoing 2011 Cricket World Cup.

Interpol, however, said in fact there are currently no Maldivians wanted for arrest by Interpol for conspiring to attack any of the 2011 Cricket World Cup events.

Commenting on the claims of the newspaper that some official of Interpol had stated that it had "received reliable information on four Pakistanis, two Maldivians and an Afghan, who are believed to have details of the plan to attack a world cup venue," it said "in fact, no official from Interpol has provided Haveeru (the newspaper) with any such information since Interpol has received no such information."