June 13, 2006	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 16, 1427

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RAWALPINDI, June 12: Two Pakistanis wanted by the US authorities in narcotics smuggling cases were extradited on Monday, security sources said. The two accused identified as Said Ali Shah and Mohammad Ashraf had been in the Adiala Jail for the last seven years.

The jail authorities on Monday handed them over to US security officials who drove them to the Islamabad airport for extradition.

An official source said there were about 21 pending extradition cases including 14 related to narcotics.

The source said nine persons had already been extradited to the US. The government has asked the US to inform it about the fate of the nine persons whether they have been acquitted or convicted.

CRIMINALS’ REGISTRATION: The federal government with the assistance of the US has started registration of criminals through the “Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS).” The database has stored 600,000 fingerprints so far, Dawn has learnt.

The United States is contributing $10 million assistance to Pakistan, while an equal amount is being provided by Pakistan for the project.

At a recent meeting of the joint working group, the Pakistani and US sides highlighted the importance of AFIS project. The meeting was informed that Pakistan was contributing $10 million for the project and considering to extend it to other districts after overcoming some technical problems before the contract on AFIS expired, said sources.

When the director general of AFIS (FIA) Ammar Jaffari was contacted, he confirmed that the automatic fingerprint system was being installed at the FIA headquarters in Islamabad.

He said the system would be extended to all the provincial police headquarters (inspector-general of police offices) and in the second phase it would be extended to the offices of all the district police officers.

Mr Jaffari said the system would help in eliminating “fake identity” and capturing criminals.

As part of AFIS, the fingerprints of both hands of prisoners in all the jails of the country have been stored and whenever an accused is arrested in future and shifted to a police station the fingerprints of his both hands would be stored.