24 October 2025
Barristers Ben Keith of 5 St Andrew’s Hill and Rhys Davies of Temple Garden Chambers use the arrest of Simon Leviev—the so-called Tinder Swindler—to explore the realities of Interpol red notices, in this week's NLJ
They explain that a red notice is not an international arrest warrant but an alert circulated among 196 member states requesting provisional detention. Leviev’s detention in Georgia shows the system’s reach—but also its flaws. Only a fraction of notices are public, and responses vary by country.
The authors warn that authoritarian regimes often weaponise red notices against dissidents and business rivals, turning legal tools into instruments of repression. They call for faster review by Interpol’s oversight commission and stronger safeguards against misuse, concluding that red notices are powerful when applied lawfully—but perilous when politicised.
