About 80 wanted people on Interpol Red Notice list have ties to S'pore

About 80 wanted people on the Interpol Red Notice list have ties to Singapore, including about 40 who are Singaporeans.

- David Sun

This was revealed by Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam in a written parliamentary reply on Jan 7. He was responding to questions from Ms Sylvia Lim (Aljunied GRC), Mr Louis Chua (Sengkang GRC) and Ms He Ting Ru (Sengkang GRC) about Interpol Red Notices.

A Red Notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action. It is not an arrest warrant, but an international alert for a wanted person published at the request of a member country, said Mr Shanmugam.

He added that a Red Notice does not automatically give the police powers to arrest the subject, and that the police can do so only if there is an extradition request made under an extradition treaty.

He said: "Where the issuing country of an Interpol Red Notice has contacted us, our relevant authorities cooperate with them within the ambit of our laws. We may also contact them proactively if we have significant security concerns, or there is sufficient evidence that offences might have been committed under our laws."