Abu Salem extradition bid dealt setback

India's quest to get alleged gangster Abu Salem, currently in custody in Lisbon in Portugal, deported may have run aground with a high-level Central Bureau of Investigation team returning to the capital empty handed.

Indian authorities, who accu-sed fugitive Salem of being a conduit of the terrorist Al Qaida network, have realised that with chances of getting Abu Salem deported to India minimal, the only option left is to get him extradited which in itself is an uphill task. India does not have an extradition treaty with Portugal.

"The response to our request to send Salem back is very positive but the issue is how to accommodate legal systems of both the democratic countries," said Vijay Shankar who headed the CBI team to Lisbon.

Although the Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said before his departure Monday on a week-long tour of Europe that he will take up the issue of Salem's extradition to India with leaders of the European Union, it will be a long -drawn legal exercise before Abu Salem is brought back to India.

It has already been made clear to the CBI team by the Portuguese authorities that Abu Salem will first be tried for staying in Portugal on forged documents before India can initiate any move to have him extradited.

Government agencies here admit that they do not have any material evidence of Abu Salem's involvement in acts of crime in India as all they have with them are statements of other criminals and recorded telephone conversations about the huge extortion racket he is accused of running here. These they admit may not be enough to justify his extradition.