Swift removal from Interpol's database and financial recovery

Not appearing in Interpol’s public database does not necessarily mean that you are free from international alerts. Firstly, not all Red Notices and diffusions are made public. Secondly, notices may still be under review by Interpol and could be added to the database shortly. For instance, Russia is no longer permitted to add its notices directly to Interpol’s database. Instead, all Russian alerts are submitted first to Interpol’s headquarters for approval, a process that takes time and can delay a notice’s appearance in the system.

A Red Notice is a request for the provisional arrest of an individual with a view to extradition. It includes information about the wanted person and is issued by an Interpol member country when the individual is accused of or has been convicted of a crime. This notice serves as a request to other member countries to arrest the individual and extradite them to the requesting country.

A Diffusion is a less formal request for locating or obtaining information about an individual. It is shared directly between Interpol member countries.

The Silver Notice is a new category of notice aimed at tracking and recovering criminal assets, such as proceeds of crime, including those from corruption, terrorism, and organized crime. The notice will support the freezing, arrest, confiscation, and return of criminal assets. A pilot program to test it is scheduled for January 2025, spanning two years. If successful, the Silver Notice will become a new tool for international asset recovery and may also allow authoritarian states to impose financial restrictions on their citizens.

Interpol also has Blue, Green, Yellow, Black, Orange, and Purple notices. However, for criminal prosecution, the Red Notice is typically the most relevant.

For more details on all notice types, the best explanation can be found on Wikipedia.

A national (or federal, in federations) warrant is issued within a single country, handled by local law enforcement agencies.

An interstate warrant involves cooperation between countries that have mutual assistance agreements, without the involvement of international organizations. For example, in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), when someone is placed on Russia’s federal wanted list, they are automatically flagged in other CIS countries. Similarly, the platform eumostwanted.eu, managed by Europol, facilitates cross-border searches within the EU.

An international warrant typically refers to those issued through Interpol, which coordinates with a wide range of member countries for cross-border searches.

Information on national warrants is typically published openly on websites managed by the relevant police services.

Reliable information on international warrants can only be provided by Interpol. You can send an inquiry to Interpol requesting confirmation or denial of any data about you in their system.

There are also some indirect ways to determine if you are under an international warrant. For instance, Bill Browder mentioned one method in his book Freezing Order: applying for a U.S. visa, which may be canceled if an international warrant is issued, and the wanted person then receives a notification from the U.S. State Department about the revocation.

Our experts can assist you in verifying your current status.

In many countries, Interpol’s wanted database is used as an official source of information about individuals. This can affect various matters, such as notarization, document issuance, and both entry into and exit from the country.

Many lawyers recommend immediately submitting a request to Interpol after leaving a country where one has faced criminal prosecution. If the individual is not yet on the wanted list, this type of request is known within Interpol as a preliminary request. Interpol’s General Secretariat does not address the substance of preliminary requests but simply opens a corresponding file. Until the applicant receives a response on the presence of their data in Interpol’s system, it’s unclear whether the request is preliminary or already formal.

We advise waiting to submit the request until sufficient evidence has been gathered to support its validity. Such a request does not trigger any legal action—there will be no suspension of the search, and alerts will be entered into Interpol’s database where applicable.

In our view, a preventive request is particularly useful if the alerts involve political, military, religious, or racial issues. In these cases, the applicant’s actions help Interpol recognize these factors before an official warrant is issued.

Yes, it is highly recommended. In many authoritarian countries, lawyers’ rights are limited, and they may have little influence over the criminal prosecution process. However, their main role in this case is to gather evidence to support a request for data removal from Interpol’s database.

Unfortunately, Interpol does not assess the guilt or innocence of the accused. In some cases reviewed by Interpol’s Commission, a lack of clear description of the accused’s alleged criminal activity has been sufficient grounds for removal from the wanted list.

Yes, Russia and other authoritarian countries can submit international warrant requests to Interpol, as can any other member countries. However, as of 2022, Russia’s NCB (National Central Bureau) is restricted from directly entering data into Interpol’s system. Requests from Russia are first reviewed by Interpol’s main office.

Syria, for example, has been an Interpol member since 1953. While corrective measures were applied to Syria’s NCB in 2012, based on improvements and increased oversight by the General Secretariat, these measures were lifted in June 2021, with full reinstatement in October 2021 following additional training for Syria’s NCB staff.

Yes, it can. Some European countries check Interpol’s data on international warrants before granting citizenship.

Directly, it has no impact, as banks do not have access to Interpol’s database. However, some countries use international warrants as a tool for transnational repression. After a Red Notice is issued, announcements about the individual’s arrest or wanted status may be shared in various Telegram channels and then quickly circulated by hostile websites. Within a few months, data collection companies might relay this information to banks’ compliance departments, damaging the individual’s reputation and complicating or blocking access to financial services.

Interpol does not issue arrest warrants; extradition and deportation are handled by law enforcement agencies of the country where the individual is detained. The decision to arrest a person with a notice is up to the relevant national authorities. However, there are instances where the police in certain Arab countries may act unilaterally, simply escorting the wanted person onto a plane bound for the requesting country.