Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said today, that the Interpol database services were integrated with the Sri Lanka Immigration Border Control System.

He thanked the Canadian Government for funding the project, which was done for the first time in South Asia.

The system is capable of storing stolen or lost travel documents and nominal information which contains the records of known international criminals with photographs and fingerprints and can even be used either online or offline.

The system which was initiated in 2004 presently holds thirty two million records on file and by November last year there had been six hundred million searches on the database. Nearly 187 countries world over are connected to the Interpol system.

The development and integration of the project was carried out by EPIC Lanka and Informatics International Limited with technical consultancy provided by Moratuwa University Senior Lecturer Chathura De Silva. (Supun Dias)