US, Kyrgyzstan, India hunt criminals with facial recognition watchlists

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has reportedly used facial recognition and fingerprint biometric data to locate an alleged Bosnian war criminal who was living under an assumed name.

The Bosnian War was an armed conflict that occurred in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995, which is estimated to have caused deaths in excess of 100,000, displacing over 2.2 million. Numerous people have been arrested for war crimes in its aftermath.

The charges and search warrant, as reported by Forbes, alleged the man was on Interpol’s red notice list and was wanted by the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina for his potential role in the war.

No other specific information was provided as to the nature of his alleged crimes, but he was also charged with providing false information to the U.S. passport office.

The man in question had been living in the U.S., and according to Forbes, had been planning a vacation to Cancun, Mexico when the arrest took place.

The DHS compared his fingerprint and facial data to records held by the Bosnia and Herzegovina authorities, which were kept under a different last name.

The suspect is currently out on a $30,000 bail and is awaiting further legal action.

More countries have been revealed to be using facial recognition for the controversial practice of locating alleged criminals.

Kyrgyzstan has launched a facial recognition system for the purpose of catching those on the Commonwealth of Independent States’ (CIS) most-wanted lists.

The CIS is an intercountry body, formed in 1991 in the aftermath of the dissolution of the Soviet Union consisting of post soviet states such as Russia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.

As per reporting by 24KG News Agency, so far 57 people have been identified by the new system in the ten days that it has been in place, via the use of these outdoor video surveillance cameras.

Four of these persons were detained, for alleged offenses such as attempted murder, ‘extremist crimes,’ hooliganism, and forgery of documents.

Though the majority of those impacted were said to be from Kyrgyzstan, there were also citizens of Russia and Uzbekistan among those detained.

India prepares watchlist, deployment

The Indian state of Maharashtra is set to digitize the biometric data of around 13,000 people accused of various different crimes.

As per reporting by The Times of India, the work to digitize the data of the 13,000 citizens, contained in the Automated Multimodal Biometric Identification System (AMBIS), is already underway.

The state is the first in India to implement this type of measure.

City Police Chief Amitesh Kumar said the move will help in the prevention of property offenses such as theft or burglaries.

Elsewhere in India, there are plans for facial recognition cameras to be installed at the Prayagraj railway station in the state of Uttar Pradesh, ahead of the Mahakumbh festival, also known as the Kumbh Mela.

In this festival, which occurs once every 12 years, large numbers of Hindus descend on the city of Prayagraj to ritually dip into the waters where the Ganges, the Yamuna, and the Sarasvati rivers intersect.

This is one of the largest religious festivals in the entire world and can attract up to 120 million visitors.

According to reporting by the Indian News Agency, the cameras are intended to identify wanted persons coming to the festival.

As per the agency’s sources, which were not cited, similar cameras are also set to be installed at the “Prayagraj Junction, Kanpur Central, Agra Cantt, Mathura Junction, Virangana Rani Laxmi Bai Jhansi, Gwalior and Aligarh Junction” railway stations.

When the recognition system makes a match, the railway police responsible will be informed.

NtechLab has previously been contracted to supply facial recognition for dozens of railway stations in India, and a company representative confirmed to Biometric Update that the authority has tested its software.

In the West, there has been a great deal of outspoken criticism about the use of facial recognition by governments. In March a petition was filed, signed by Belgium Human Rights League, to Belgium’s Parliament to claim that this type of technology could lead to both bias and systemic discrimination, as well as the normalization of mass surveillance. In addition, a letter from European members of parliament to members of France’s Assemblée Nationale also strongly objected to the use of facial recognition tech in the upcoming 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  criminal ID  |  facial recognition  |  India  |  Kyrgyzstan  |  NTechlab  |  United States  |  video surveillance