What is Interpol?
The international police organisation is engulfed in controversy
![](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/sites/default/files/20181124_IRP501.jpg)
By S.H.
IT COULD be the plot of a thriller movie. Shortly after landing in China, the head of an international crime-fighting organisation sends a knife emoji to his wife. Minutes later, he disappears. In the following weeks, a Russian with ties to an authoritarian regime comes tantalisingly close to taking control of the organisation, raising concerns around the globe. Is this fiction? No, it’s Interpol. But what does it do, and why has it been engulfed by so much controversy?
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