ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has shared with Interpol the DNA profiles of suspected terrorists linked to horrendous terrorist attacks in Mumbai last year. The Interpol has termed the sharing of DNA profiles by Islamabad as a benchmark move, saying Pakistan's cooperation is crucially helping set new international standards for terrorism investigations. "Pakistan has been praised by Interpol for its benchmark move in sharing with the world police body and its 187 member countries the DNA profiles of suspected terrorists linked to last November's Mumbai terrorist attacks," said an Interpol statement put on its website on Sunday. An official here when contacted also confirmed that the DNA profiles of the alleged perpetrators of Mumbai attacks had been sent to Interpol. Requesting anonymity, he said that the DNA profiles also included that of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind of the Mumbai attacks and Lashkar-e-Taiba's main leader. The Interpol statement said, "On March21, Interpol's Command and Co-ordination Centre at its General Secretariat headquarters in Lyon received DNA profiles from Pakistan relating to the Mumbai terrorist attacks, which were immediately checked against the organisation's global database by experts from Interpol's DNA unit." Interpol Secretary General Ronald K Noble said that his organisation had received police information of paramount importance that would allow it to help Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) thoroughly and comprehensively to determine the full international dimension of these attacks. Noble said that in committing itself to comparing the DNA profiles of all terrorists and all non-nationals arrested by Pakistan's police, Pakistan's cooperation was crucially helping set new international standards for terrorism investigations, especially those involving non-nationals. "Pakistan's decision to send its DNA terrorist-related profiles to Interpol so that all member countries can compare their DNA profiles against them sets a benchmark for Interpol in terrorist-related investigations," said the Secy General Noble. "The only way for investigators to know for certain the true international dimension of a case and the true identity of a suspect is to compare fingerprints and DNA profiles against both national and Interpol's global databases. We, therefore, encourage all Interpol National Central Bureaux to compare their DNA profiles of suspected terrorists and non-nationals against Interpol's global database," he said. He said that on behalf of the entire international police community, Interpol was grateful to the Pakistani authorities, including Advisor to PM on Interior Rehman Malik, and FIA Director General Tariq Khosa, for their efforts to help Interpol member countries better protect themselves. He said the DNA profiles, which Pakistan had sent had now been added to Interpol's database containing almost 85,000 DNA profiles and were available for international comparison by the member states.