Interpol's wanted list increased by 50 percent in 2011, to 75,000 names from 50,000 the previous year, Interpol chief Ronald Noble said on Thursday.
The list currently includes 26,000 suspects who have been issued “red notices,” which stipulates their immediate detention for subsequent extradition, as well as 49,000 issued “diffusions” - informal arrest warrants that are posted on Interpol’s communications system.
The bureau issued 10,000 new “red notices” and 15,000 “diffusions” last year, Noble said.
Over the past 11 years, the number of people wanted by Interpol has seen an almost six-fold increase, he said.
Interpol operations have become more public, Noble said: back in 2000, a total of 95 percent of all Interpol’s notices were issued secretly, while currently, less then half of them are secret.
