The former head of Interpol, who vanished after taking a flight to Beijing, is being held and investigated for corruption, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security said in a statement Monday.
Meng Hongwei, who was also a vice minister of public security in China, has been accused by the Chinese government of accepting bribes and committing unspecified other crimes.
“(Meng) insisted on taking the wrong path and had only himself to blame (for his downfall),” the country's top law enforcement official, Zhao Kezhi, was quoted as saying in the statement.
Chinese authorities had previously remained tight-lipped about the whereabouts of Meng, following his sudden disappearance last month after he flew from France to China.
In an earlier statement released on Sunday, the Chinese government said Meng was “under investigation” by the National Supervisory Commission, the country's top anti-corruption unit, but gave no further details on whether he was in custody or what the charges might be.
Concerns over Meng's whereabouts were first raised by wife, Grace, who reported him missing to French authorities in the city of Lyon, where the couple live, last Thursday.
She was moved to contact authorities after she received a final text message with a knife emoji and instructions to “wait for my call.”
That call never came.
The South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong-based newspaper known for its connections inside the Chinese government, said Meng was “taken away” for questioning upon landing in China last week. The newspaper cited an unnamed source.
In a separate development, Interpol said it had received Meng's resignation from the international police agency with “immediate effect” according to statement posted on Sunday. It made no mention of the former president's sudden disappearance or his current whereabouts.
Meng is the latest high profile figure to be taken into custody following the wide-ranging campaign against corruption undertaken since Chinese President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012.
Speculation as to the whereabouts of Meng has dominated international headlines, in the face of an initial stony silence from the Chinese government.
Meng has lived in Lyon, where Interpol is headquartered, since assuming the role of president in 2016.
In an earlier statement released on Saturday, Interpol's Secretary General Jurgen Stock called for China to provide more information about Meng's situation “through official law enforcement channels.”
Following the Chinese official's resignation, Interpol announced South Korea's Kim Jong Yang would serve as acting president until the organization's general assembly picks a permanent president next month.
Meng was the first Chinese Interpol President and oversaw the agency's executive committee, which sets overall strategy.
However, there were concerns after the announcement was made that having a top Interpol official with a position in the authoritarian Chinese Communist Party could turn the body towards Beijing's aims.
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