Wife of Missing Interpol Head Says He Texted Her Knife Emoji

She says Meng Hongwei's message means he's in danger
By Josh Gardner,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 7, 2018 2:00 PM CDT
Wife of Missing Interpol Head Says He Texted Her Knife Emoji
Meng Hongwei, delivers his speech to Interpol members during the 83rd Interpol General Assembly.   (AP Photo/Claude Paris)

The saga of missing Interpol chief Meng Hongwei continues as his wife reveals he sent her a text message consisting of just a single emoji: that of a knife. Per AFP, Grace Meng relayed the jarring information to a group of reporters in Lyon, France, where the global police agency is based. Meng gave her statement with her back turned to reporters in order to hide her face for fear she, too, could be vulnerable, as she believes the knife was meant as a sign from her husband he is in danger. "I'm not sure what has happened to him," she told reporters. "This matter belongs to the international community." Meng left France late last month and confusion was widespread at the news of his disappearance. However, the nature of his predicament became clearer soon after his wife's statement on Sunday.

Per the AP, China announced less than an hour later that Meng, who also serves as the country's Vice Minister of Public Security, had been detained for unnamed legal violations. A rather vague statement posted online by China's new National Supervision Commission, an anti-corruption agency, said Meng is "suspected of violating the law and is currently under the monitoring and investigation." The news has observers guessing that Meng has been caught up in President Xi Jinping's widening crackdown on what his Communist Party deems as dissent. Prior to his arrest, the New York Times notes that Meng's appointment as Interpol's first Chinese chief was seen as a step toward authoritarian China's embrace of international organizations. Last month, one of China's top energy officials was also snared in Xi's continued anti-corruption crusade. (More Grace Meng stories.)

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