Interpol Issues First Silver Notice at India’s Request
Interpol has issued its first-ever Silver Notice on India’s request to track down global assets linked to Shubham Shokeen, a former officer at the French Embassy in New Delhi. The notice is a significant move in India’s pursuit of transnational financial criminals and marks a new chapter in global asset tracing enforcement.
Interpol’s Silver Notice Explained
The Silver Notice was introduced by Interpol in January 2025 as a new tool specifically designed to help member countries identify and locate assets acquired through illegal means. These include properties, bank accounts, luxury vehicles, and corporate holdings associated with crimes such as fraud, corruption, money laundering, and drug trafficking.
India is one of 51 countries participating in this pilot initiative, under which each country is permitted to issue up to nine Silver Notices until November 2025. The Silver Notice system aims to streamline international cooperation in recovering illicit assets and curbing financial crimes that span borders.
The Case Against Shubham Shokeen
Shubham Shokeen served at the French Embassy between September 2019 and May 2022 in a visa-related capacity. During this period, he allegedly ran a sophisticated racket involving the illegal issuance of Schengen visas in return for bribes ranging from ₹15 lakh to ₹45 lakh per applicant. The illegal profits from this scheme were reportedly laundered into six high-value properties in Dubai, estimated to be worth around ₹15.7 crore.
The case represents one of the most high-profile embassy-linked frauds and prompted Indian authorities to act decisively in collaboration with Interpol.
CBI Action and Wider Investigations
Before the Silver Notice, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had already issued a Blue Notice to locate Shokeen’s whereabouts. With the Silver Notice now active, the CBI aims to recover assets acquired from the visa fraud scheme. In addition, the CBI has sought another Silver Notice against Amit Madanlal Lakhanpal, a fugitive wanted for allegedly operating a fake cryptocurrency and defrauding investors of over ₹113 crore.
This broader crackdown on white-collar fugitives reflects India’s growing emphasis on closing loopholes in international financial enforcement mechanisms.
Strengthening Global Financial Crime Enforcement
The deployment of the Silver Notice is expected to significantly enhance India’s ability to pursue and reclaim illicit wealth stored abroad. It also underscores the necessity of robust international cooperation and intelligence sharing.
Such notices enable countries to initiate further steps like asset seizure, legal confiscation, or repatriation requests, depending on the local laws of the host country. As India intensifies its crackdown on economic fugitives, the use of Silver Notices could become a vital tool in its arsenal.
