LYON, France (AP) — The wife of the former Interpol president who disappeared in China has detailed to The Associated Press the telephoned threats she received that prompted French authorities to place her under police protection.

In her first one-on-one interview since Meng Hongwei went missing, Grace Meng also told the AP that speaking out about the disappearance of her high-profile husband was placing her "in great danger."

He is a long-time Communist Party insider who appears to have become the target of a purge.

Grace Meng said she received a threatening phone call and an alarming text from her husband with an emoji of a knife. She has had no information on where he is.

Untold scores of people have been swept up in a crackdown under authoritarian President Xi Jinping.