In an effort to track criminals fleeing to Kashmir after committing offences in the United Kingdom, the West Midlands Police plans to open a station in Srinagar.

Under the plan, up to 28 officers will be based in Srinagar, according to a media report in London.

The report said one detective from the West Midlands had already been to Kashmir three or four times this year.

The idea, the Sunday Telegraph said, had received backing elsewhere, including from the Hampshire detective leading the hunt for the murderer of Hannah Foster, a 17 year old girl.

Detective Supt Alan Betts of the Hampshire police said he had been to Kashmir twice on the trail of Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, an Indian suspected to have killed Hannah on March 14, 2003.

She was abducted as she walked home in Southampton.

"Personally, I think it would be a benefit. There are no British police officers in India. I would support this because it would give much better liaison between the two countries.  There could be benefits and savings," said Betts.  He made a second trip to New Delhi last month after receiving clearance from the Indian government to carry out inquiries in the case being prepared by the Crown Prosecution Service.

Oliver Letwin, the shadow home secretary, was sceptical, however.

"One obviously welcomes any initiative to improve law enforcement but it is sad to think that the West Midlands police have to use policemen who are desperately needed in local streets to man an office in Kashmir," he said.

More than 500,000 people in Britain are thought to have links with the Kashmir region, the report said.