Interpol President Disappeared In China After Sending Knife Emoji To His Wife
NY Times — In a startling move that could set back the country’s efforts to expand its global presence, the Chinese Communist Party announced late Sunday that the missing president of Interpol, Meng Hongwei, was under investigation on “suspicion of violating the law” and was “under the supervision” of an anticorruption watchdog tied to the party.
The announcement that Mr. Meng, a Chinese citizen, was being detained was posted online by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the party’s watchdog against graft and political disloyalty, on Sunday night.
A few hours later, Interpol said it had received Mr. Meng’s resignation “with immediate effect.”
Just an awesome story out of China. Like yeah it’s pretty scary and involves illegal shit like bribery and the disappearance of a husband and a deeply concerned wife, so it sucks for them, but for basically everyone else it’s awesome. You’re telling me the president of the global police force disappeared in his home country after texting a fucking knife emoji to his wife?
The announcement of Mr. Meng’s detention came hours after his wife, Grace, told reporters in Lyon, France, that before her husband had vanished on a trip to China, he had sent her a phone message with an emoji of a knife.
She interpreted the knife image to mean “he is in danger,” she said in a brief statement to reporters on Sunday in Lyon, where the two were living and where Interpol is headquartered.
HELL YES! Inject that shit into my veins. I need Jack Bauer, Jason Bourne, and James Bond (the Pierce Brosnan one) co-covering this case immediately.
It gets better. Mr. Interpol also texted his wife, “Wait for my call.”
She said she had received the message with the knife image shortly after Mr. Meng arrived in China. It came just four minutes after she received a message from him saying, “Wait for my call,” she said.
She has not heard from him since. She reported his disappearance to the French police on Oct. 4. A French police investigation is now underway, with the authorities saying that he had boarded a plane and arrived in China, but that his subsequent whereabouts was unknown.
I got chills when it read, “she has not heard from him since.” Good chills.
Just a phenomenal story. Bad for the wife, bad for Mr. Interpol — I couldn’t imagine a worse place in the world to be than detained in China on bribery charges — but great for us. Feels like a once-in-a-decade story involving world policing agencies, international relations, China vs the Western world, cryptic/terrifying text messages to family.
And for those reasons, I’m in.