China behind strange case of missing Interpol boss

Detained: Meng Hongwei THE missing president of the police agency Interpol sent his wife an image of a knife immediately before he disappeared in China, which she believes was his way of saying that he was in danger.

Grace Meng detailed the chilling final exchange of messages with her husband, Meng Hongwei (64), as she spoke in the French city of Lyon, where Interpol is based.

Apparently confirming her fears for his safety, China announced less than an hour after she spoke that Mr Meng was under investigation on suspicion of unspecified legal violations, making the vice minister for public security and Interpol chief the latest high-profile official to be swept up in a government crackdown.

The disciplinary organ of China’s ruling Communist Party said in a brief statement on its website that Mr Meng was “suspected of violating the law and is currently under the monitoring and investigation” of China’s new anti-corruption body, the National Supervision Commission.

In Lyon, meanwhile, his wife said she hadn’t heard from her husband since September 25. Using his Interpol phone, he sent her the knife image that day, four minutes after he sent a message saying: “Wait for my call.”

She said the call never came and she does not know what happened to him.

Of the knife image, she said: “I think he means he is in danger.”