Detained Interpol chief resigns as wife reveals he sent her ‘knife warning’ text

Rory Mulholland

Sophia Yan

THE Interpol chief who went missing last week has resigned from the post after it emerged he is being questioned by Chinese authorities, the international police agency said.

The announcement came shortly after China confirmed it is holding Meng Hongwei and his wife said he sent her an image of a knife before he disappeared as a sign that he was in danger.

China’s new anti-corruption body said authorities were investigating the head of the global police organisation, who is also a vice-minister of public security in China, for suspected violations of the law.

The National Supervision Commission (NSC), which is also the ruling Communist party’s watchdog for political disloyalty, did not specify what the alleged violations were.

Its statement was the first from China since Mr Meng’s disappearance was reported on Friday in France, where Interpol is based in the city of Lyon and where Mr Meng lived with his wife and children. Interpol said in a statement last night that France “received the resignation of Mr Meng Hongwei as President of Interpol with immediate effect”. It said Kim Jongyang, a South Korean, would becomes its acting president.

French prosecutors opened an investigation last week after his wife Grace reported Mr Meng missing, saying she had not heard from him since he left for China in late September. Mrs Meng, who was placed under police protection after receiving threats, held a press conference in Lyon yesterday and told reporters said she had not heard from her 64-year-old husband husband since Sept 25.

She said he sent her the knife image that day, four minutes after he sent a message that said: “Wait for my call.”

The call never came and she said she did not know what happened to her husband, who appeared to have fallen out of favour with Beijing.

Mrs Meng said she feared that her husband’s life was in danger.

About an hour later, the NSC confirmed Mr Meng had been detained. He was elected to a four-year term as president of Interpol in 2016.