A fleet of underwater drones, gleaming and ready for action, is lined up along the wall. Nearby, a small armoury of brightly coloured, 3D-printed guns is displayed on a side table. A robot dog, named Inno, lies prone on the floor, waiting to be activated.
In the leafy Singapore suburb of Tanglin, over the road from the British High Commission and the US embassy, and a block away from the Botanic Gardens, Interpol’s innovation centre is where law enforcement officers from around the world come to analyse the latest strategies of organised criminals and develop techniques for bringing them down. One side of a global arms race is being waged here, as the international police organisation tries to stay ahead of its increasingly sophisticated and professionalised criminal adversaries.
For a decade this modest research facility, kitted out with technology at the forefront of policing, has been a mecca for forensic scientists. The centre is set within Interpol’s large, fortified complex in Singapore, its second biggest office behind its headquarters in Lyon, France. The site also includes one of Interpol’s three global command and co-ordination centres which, along with facilities in Lyon and Buenos Aires, provide 24-hour monitoring for police in nearly 200 countries. If a suspect on Interpol’s most-wanted list crosses an international border, they will be flagged here. In 2024, 215 fugitives were caught this way. This year, Mohamed Amra, the gangster known as “The Fly”, who was named France’s public enemy number one after his escape from custody left two prison guards dead last May, was arrested in Romania following an operation involving an international network of police.