No-one, many experts feel, knows more about informal money transfer systems than the CBI. As the main economic crimefighting agency in India, the CBI has long experience dealing with corruption, embezzlement, and a wide range of ways of moving money through India's tortuous financial networks. The country's role as a key port of call on the commodities routes means that gold and diamond smuggling are also specialities.

The problem is getting the information out of the legendarily close-lipped agency, however. And where Pakistan is concerned, opinions can be coloured by official outrage about the five-decade dispute over the ownership of Kashmir.