INTERPOL Most Wanted: Who Is on the List and How to Read It

People searching for INTERPOL’s most wanted are usually after one of three things: the published list itself, an explanation of how someone ends up on it, or reassurance about their own position. This page covers all three, starting with a point that surprises most readers — INTERPOL does not publish a ranked “top ten” at all.

How INTERPOL’s most wanted list actually works

There is no official INTERPOL top ten and no ranking by dangerousness. The organisation publishes extracts of Red Notices — requests circulated at the initiative of a member country to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition. The ranked “ten most wanted” format that people have in mind comes from national agencies such as the FBI, not from INTERPOL.

Three consequences follow, and they explain most of the confusion around the list:

• The published list is partial. An extract appears only where the requesting country has agreed to publication. Many countries decline, so a great many notices are never visible to the public;
• Diffusions never appear at all. A country can circulate a wanted-person request directly to other national bureaux without a notice being issued. Diffusions are not published, yet they produce comparable consequences at a border;
• The list changes constantly. Entries are added, amended and withdrawn as cases progress, as countries change their position on publication, or as data is deleted. Any snapshot describes one day only.

How to read an entry on the list

Each published card carries the person’s identity details as supplied by the requesting country, the charge as that country describes it, and the country itself. Several things it does not carry are worth noting:

• no finding of guilt — a Red Notice is a request to locate and arrest, issued before any trial, and the person named is presumed innocent;
• no assessment by INTERPOL of the evidence — the General Secretariat checks compliance with its own rules, not the strength of the case;
• no guarantee of current accuracy — the requesting country owns the record and is responsible for updating it.

That last point is the reason a notice can outlive the case behind it. Charges are dropped, sentences are served, limitation periods expire — and the record stays until someone acts on it.

Searching the list, and what a nil result proves

The public search runs on names, with filters for nationality, sex, age range and requesting country. Transliterated names are a recurring problem: a name originating in Cyrillic, Arabic or Chinese script may be recorded under a spelling that differs from the passport, so one query is not a reliable test.

An empty result is weak evidence. It rules out a published extract under the spelling searched, and nothing else — not an unpublished notice, not a diffusion, not a national warrant. Our guide to the Red Notice check sets out what the public search does and does not cover, and INTERPOL database search explains which parts of the wider system are closed to the public.

Who Are Some of the Most Wanted Persons?

The entries below are drawn from publicly available Red Notice extracts and reflect the position when this page was compiled. A Red Notice is a request to locate and arrest, not a conviction, and every person named is presumed innocent. Notices are regularly amended or deleted — some of these may since have been withdrawn. Check INTERPOL’s current published list before relying on any of it.

These are a few names of wanted persons as indicated on the Red Notice list. The names are in no order in any ranking;

• Hernandez Campos Jose Isaias, age 30 from El Salvador;
• Kalibatov Marat, age 37 from Russia;
• Gafarova Irina, age 51, from Russia;
• Mendes Magana Rafael Edgardo, age 31 from El Salvador;
• Roach Kenroy, age 32, from Jamaica;
• Garcia Gonzales Jose Jaime, age 28 from El Salvador;
• Hernandes LOpex Elmer Alexander, age 27 from El Salvador;
• Dos Santos Emanuel Eduardo, age 33, from Brazil;
• AL Ajeil Adel Abdalkader, age 23 from Syria;
• Pansuk SIriwipa , age 27 from Thailand.

Most Wanted Persons in EU

GARSHIN, Igor

Wanted by Germany

Igor Garshin, also spelled as Garschin, is believed to have played a significant role in various cyberattacks targeting German companies. He is suspected of involvement in activities such as espionage, infiltration, and encryption of data belonging to the affected companies.

Investigations have revealed that these cyberattacks can be attributed to the group known as “Indrik Spider,” alternatively referred to as “Doppel Spider.” The group’s first known attack took place in 2017 and targeted the United Kingdom’s National Health Service. They utilized ransomware named BitPaymer to execute this attack.

BitPaymer is a type of ransomware that encrypts data on infected systems. Once the malware infiltrates the victim’s system, it exfiltrates data and proceeds to encrypt stored files. The victims are then coerced into paying a ransom to regain access to their data. These attacks have resulted in extorting double-digit million amounts from over 600 victims worldwide.

Starting from 2019, the group came into the spotlight for their use of a different ransomware called DoppelPaymer. They later changed their name to PayOrGrief in 2021 and again to Entropy in January 2022.

As such, Igor Garshin is suspected to be involved in attempted extortion, computer sabotage, and is considered a member of the criminal group “Indrik Spider” or “Doppel Spider.” It is believed that he may currently reside in Yoshkar-Ola, Russia.

However, the present whereabouts of Igor Garshin remain unknown at this time.

AUTIO, Arto Kalevi

Wanted by Finland

CRIME: Finnish businessman Arto Kalevi is among the wanted fugitives by the EU and Interpol for his alleged role in a major fraud and embezzlement scandal in Finland. Arto Kalevi is a former board member of an Estonian Investment company (Brave Capital) and is wanted for his role in a fraud scandal affecting the financial interests of European communities by diverting millions of Euros.

IVANČUKS, Romāns

Wanted by Latvia

CRIME: Illicit trafficking (Narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances)

Romāns Ivančuks is believed to be a member of a criminal organisation that participated in the illegal procurement, storage, and transportation of narcotic substances (specifically cocaine) across numerous countries in 2019. Ivančuks is now sought for prosecution, with a possible maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

KIJONKA, Norbert

Wanted by Czech Republic

CRIME: Trafficking narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances

Kijonka Nobert was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison for drug-related crimes in 2016 and has evaded law enforcement authorities since then. Nobert is also suspected of actively engaging in organized crime activities, mainly the production and sale of illegal substances. His movements predominantly revolve around Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic.

The EU believes Nobert uses counterfeit documents to cross borders, and he is considered highly dangerous with military training. Nobert is capable of using illegal firearms against others and constantly seeks the company of drug-addicted women. He also has a penchant for high-speed cars and powerful motorcycles. The Czech Republic is currently the competent judicial authority for issuing the EU arrest warrant for Nobert.

OMOREGIE, Felix

Wanted by Belgium

CRIME: Human Trafficking

Felix Omoregie is a suspected human trafficking kingpin suspected of smuggling and distributing young women across European countries. The Belgian citizen allegedly smuggled young women living under desperate conditions from Nigeria to Italy and subsequently distributed them across Europe for prostitution. As the ringleader, Omoregie dictated the transfer location for the victims and amassed the revenue from their enforced prostitution.

LEIJDEKKERS, Joseph Johannes

Wanted by Netherlands

Crime: Illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs

Also known as “Chubby Jos”, Joseph Johannes is among the EU’s most wanted fugitives, and a €200,000 reward is offered for information on his capture. The Dutch citizen is accused of being a key player in the international cocaine trafficking business and laundering criminal proceeds. Johannes is also wanted in connection with violent cases like the disappearance and presumed murder of Naima Jillal in 2019.

Large-scale drugs trafficking and money laundering

Jos Leijdekkers is a key figure in global cocaine trafficking and is suspected of laundering the proceeds from drug trafficking. Intercepted Sky-ECC messages reveal his involvement in laundering millions of euros and kilograms of gold, likely from cocaine trafficking. In the investigation, a criminal file was compiled on Leijdekkers for importing cocaine through Rotterdam and Antwerp ports, including cases involving threats and violence.

Excessive violence

Leijdekkers is suspected of involvement in severe cases of violence, including the disappearance and presumed death of Naima Jillal. Jillal went missing on October 20, 2019, after entering a car in Amsterdam. Intercepted messages indicate that Leijdekkers played a significant role in her disappearance. There was no trace of Naima Jillal for a long time until photos, likely depicting her tortured, were discovered on a phone seized in the Marengo investigation, suggesting she is no longer alive.

What Crimes Can Lead to Being On the Most Wanted List?

INTERPOL operations focus on serious cases, including fugitives wanted for grave crimes such as;

• Murder
• Fraud
• Corruption
• Money laundering
• Child sexual abuse
• Human trafficking
• Environmental crimes
• Drug trafficking

All these crimes lead to being a subject of the Red Notice. Red notices are issued to criminals or fugitives who are either wanted for prosecution or to serve a sentence. It happens following judicial proceedings of the member state issuing the request. It is not necessarily the birth country of the person but the country where the person committed this crime.

When a person subject to a notice is identified, it is national police who act: the officer runs the check, the National Central Bureau of that country is alerted, and the country that requested the notice is notified. Any detention, and any decision on surrender, is taken under the law of the country where the person is found — not by INTERPOL.

INTERPOL’s published list is searchable from the Notices section of its website, by name and with the filters described above. Treat what you find there as a starting point rather than a conclusion — the published part is a fraction of what the system holds.

Also read this useful articles:

Interpol Arrest Warrant

Is an Interpol Red Notice always public on Interpol.int?

If you find your own name on the list

A published extract is not a verdict and it can be challenged. INTERPOL’s rules require that data be accurate, that the case not be predominantly political, military, religious or racial in character, and that the request be compatible with international human-rights standards. Where those conditions are not met, the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL’s Files can order the record corrected or deleted.

Two steps come first. Establish which country submitted the request, because that determines both the strength of the challenge and the extradition risk in any given jurisdiction. Then assess the domestic case separately — deleting the INTERPOL record leaves the national warrant standing. Our team handles both; see Red Notice removal.

Frequently asked questions

Does INTERPOL have a top 10 most wanted list?

No. INTERPOL publishes Red Notice extracts without ranking them. Lists presented online as “INTERPOL’s top 10” are compiled by media outlets or by national agencies with their own criteria, not by INTERPOL.

Who is the most wanted person in the world?

There is no single answer, because no international authority ranks fugitives. Different countries maintain their own priority lists using different criteria — the seriousness of the charge, the reward offered, the length of time at large — and those lists rarely agree.

How many people are on INTERPOL’s wanted list?

The published figure covers only notices countries have agreed to publish, and it moves continuously as entries are added and withdrawn. The total number of records in the restricted system is considerably larger and is not public.

Can a person be removed from the list?

Yes. The requesting country can withdraw a notice at any time, and the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL’s Files can order deletion where the record breaches INTERPOL’s rules. Both routes are used regularly.

Does appearing on the list mean automatic extradition?

No. A Red Notice asks countries to locate and provisionally arrest; whether extradition follows is decided by the courts of the country where the person is found, under its own law and its treaties. Some countries decline to act on notices at all.