Interpol seeks info on missing officer

Interpol President Meng Hongwei disappeared during a visit to China.

PARIS— Interpol has made a formal request to China for information about its missing Chinese president who seemingly vanished on a trip home, citing concerns for his well-being.

The Lyon-based international police agency said in a brief statement Saturday that it used law enforcement channels to submit its request about the status of Meng Hongwei.

The agency “looks forward to an official response from China’s authorities to address concerns over the president’s wellbeing,” the statement said.

China, in the midst of a weeklong holiday, had yet to comment. Meng’s wife says she hasn’t heard from him since he left Lyon at the end of September. France has launched its own investigation. French authorities say he boarded a plane and arrived in China, but the 64-year-old’s subsequent whereabouts is unknown. Meng is also a vice minister for public security in China.

Previously, Interpol had said that reports about Meng’s disappearance were “a matter for the relevant authorities in both France and China.” The South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong newspaper, has suggested that Meng may have been the latest target of an ongoing campaign against corruption in China. The newspaper said that upon landing last week Meng was “taken away” for questioning by what it said were “discipline authorities.”

The term usually describes investigators in the ruling Communist Party who probe graft and political disloyalty.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the party’s secretive internal investigation agency, had no announcements on its website about Meng and couldn’t be reached for comment.

Meng is the first from his country to serve as Interpol’s president, a post that is largely symbolic but powerful in status. Because the secretary general is responsible for the day-to-day running of the agency’s operations, Meng’s absence may have little operational effect.