In an exclusive interview, Grace Meng said she has received threatening phone calls since the Chinese government announced her husband was in custody in early October.
"I think it is political persecution. I'm not sure he's alive. They are cruel. They are dirty ... They can do anything," she told the interviewer.
Then-President of Interpol Meng Hongwei disappeared after he took a flight back to China in late September. His wife, Grace, said at the time that the last contact she received from him was a text message saying to wait for his call, followed minutes later by a knife emoji.
She reported him missing to French authorities, who opened an investigation. Interpol sent an official inquiry to the Chinese government asking for the whereabouts of their missing president.
On October 8, Beijing's Ministry of Public Security admitted they had detained Meng following his return to China, saying he was being investigated for corruption.
"(Meng) insisted on taking the wrong path and had only himself to blame (for his downfall)," the country's top law enforcement official, Zhao Kezhi, was quoted as saying in the statement.
Grace told the BBC she still hadn't told her children that their father was in custody in China, telling them he was on a long business trip.
"(But they keep asking) 'Mommy when is daddy back? I want to talk to daddy. We want to hear his voice'," she said.
Speaking with in silhouette to protect her from being recognized, Grace said she had spoken out to raise awareness of China's extrajudicial detentions. "I don't want any other wives and children like me," she said.
No further information has been released by the Chinese government, and Meng has not been seen in public since he left France for China in September.
Shortly after Beijing announced Meng's arrest, Interpol said it had received and accepted his resignation with "immediate effect." It made no mention of the former president's whereabouts or the Chinese investigation.
Meng was the first Chinese official to lead the international policing body and his appointment just two years ago in 2016 was greeted enthusiastically by the country's state media.
As President, Meng oversaw the agency's executive committee, which sets overall strategy.
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