It’s one of those stories that make readers do a double take: The head of Interpol, the intelligence organization that can supposedly find anybody anywhere in the world, has gone missing.

Meng Hongwei of China and his family reside in Lyon, France, the seat of Interpol headquarters. His wife reported him missing after he took a trip to China on Sept. 25. He hasn’t been heard from since.

The mystery surrounding the disappearance of the world’s top international policeman is not just that he’s gone missing. There is, for one, the statement Interpol issued about Meng, that it was “aware of media reports in connection with the alleged disappearance”. That is a stunning statement. Interpol’s chief has vanished but the organization knows about it only through the media. It is possible that is not the case but the way the statement was worded gives the impression that Interpol, for decades known as the world’s No 1 man hunter, has made the extraordinary admission that it received news about its own chief vanishing from the newspapers.

Then there is its other announcement that the reported disappearance was a matter for the relevant authorities in both France and China. Obviously, because Meng is Chinese and lives in France, those two governments would be trying to track him down, but the statement pretty much implies that Interpol will not be helping in the search for its own president. Interpol can issue a red notice - an international alert - for a wanted person but it does not have the power to send officers into countries to arrest individuals or issue arrest warrants. All the same, Interpol should be taking a leading role in finding Meng.

Of course, Meng’s disappearance provides fertile ground for speculation. A report in the South China Morning Post claims Meng was “taken away” for questioning as soon as his plane landed.

There’s no information on why Meng might be investigated. If he has really gone missing, whom did he anger in China or what could he have done for Beijing to jeopardize such a top job? China is not a long-time member of Interpol and Meng is the first Chinese to head it. After he was elected by Interpol’s general assembly in 2016, he was celebrated by China’s media as confirming that the country was winning international recognition and respect. So why would Beijing abruptly and so jarringly pull the rug out from under him and lose somebody who obviously made his country proud?

That Meng had close links to the Chinese government makes his disappearance all the more puzzling. Meng, 64, was formerly China’s deputy minister of public security, a position that reportedly gave him control over the country’s secret police. Beijing saw Meng’s election to Interpol as a chance to enlist more international help in tracking down economic criminals, including corrupt officials.

This is not the first high-profile disappearance involving a Chinese national to hit the headlines in recent weeks. Two days before it became known that Meng had disappeared, Chinese media reported that Fan Bingbing, a Chinese actress who had disappeared for four months, had been cooperating with the tax authorities, who fined her nearly $70 million in unpaid taxes and penalties.

Meng heads an organization that connects the law enforcement agencies of its 192 member countries. On paper, Interpol’s Secretary-General Jürgen Stock directly oversees the daily work of police cooperation and carries out any decisions it takes. Meng has a less hands-on and more ceremonial role and is due to serve until 2020. Supposedly nobody is beyond Interpol’s reach, least of all its president.