A notice is not an arrest warrant
When a country wants help finding someone abroad, it can ask Interpol to circulate a Red Notice. The notice shares identifying details and a requesting country’s claim that the person is wanted; it asks police elsewhere to locate the person and, where local law allows, consider provisional arrest while extradition is pursued.
That request does not itself authorize an arrest. Interpol does not issue a universal warrant, and a Red Notice is not an international court order. Each country decides what legal effect, if any, to give it.
Why local police make the decision
Interpol is a communications and coordination network, not a force with officers who can enforce the law across borders. Its member countries connect through national police offices, which relay information to the agencies responsible for acting on it. Those agencies operate under their own country’s laws and procedures.
So if a notice identifies someone at an airport, local officers—not Interpol agents—must determine whether they have legal grounds to detain that person. Depending on the country, a notice may help trigger action, but authorities may need a separate domestic warrant or other legal basis. The requesting country may then seek extradition, a process governed by national law and applicable agreements.
Coordination without a world police force
This division keeps the practical power to arrest with states that have jurisdiction over their own territory. Interpol can help police in different countries exchange information quickly, but it cannot compel them to arrest someone or decide whether that person should be extradited.
That is why crossing a border can turn a wanted-person search into a chain of national decisions: a request travels internationally, but any handcuffs are applied under local authority.
