27 Turkish police officers detained in anti-Gülen operation

ADANA

AA photo

A total of 27 police officers were detained in an operation targeting the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization/Parallel State Structure (FETÖ/PDY) in eight provinces on Feb. 15. 

Three police chiefs were among those detained in the operation centered in the southern province of Adana.  

A simultaneous operation was launched by the Smuggling and Organized Crime Bureau in the southern provinces of Adana, Mersin, Osmaniye, Kahramanmaraş, the capital Ankara, the eastern provinces of Malatya and Elazığ, and the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri. 

The detainees were taken to the police headquarters after undergoing medical checks. 

Users of the ByLock messaging app were among those detained, and police officers detained in provinces other than Adana are set to be taken to Adana for questioning. 

The ByLock smartphone app came to prominence after it was revealed that followers of the U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, widely believed to have been behind the failed July 2016 coup attempt, used it to communicate.