Brazil’s Valdisi Urquiza has been appointed head of INTERPOL, becoming the first representative of a developing country to lead the world’s largest international criminal police organisation.

Urquiza, a senior official of the Brazilian Federal Police, was elected by a majority of INTERPOL’s 196 member countries at the organisation’s General Assembly in Glasgow on Tuesday to succeed outgoing Secretary General Jürgen Stock.

This election reflects the priority given by the Brazilian government to the fight against transnational and organised crime,’ the Brazilian Federal Police said in a statement, welcoming the appointment as an international recognition of the Federal Police’s capabilities and contribution to the work of INTERPOL.
Urquiza, 43, will begin his five-year term on Thursday, 7 November, at the end of the General Assembly session.