83 suspects detained for issuing fake gun licenses across Turkey

SAKARYA – Doğan News Agency

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At least 83 people, including a police officer, have been detained for issuing fake gun licenses in a vast police operation that centered on the northwestern province of Sakarya.

The suspects were detained after the Sakarya Police Department’s Smuggling and Organized Crimes Unit started a large operation on Oct. 5 in the northwestern provinces of Sakarya, Istanbul, Edirne, Yalova, Çanakkale, Tekirdağ, Bolu, Balıkesir, Kocaeli and Düzce, the Black Sea province of Trabzon, the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri, the eastern province of Van, and the Aegean province of İzmir, police said.

Among the detained suspects was a police officer from the weapons and explosives bureau of the police department in Edirne’s İpsala district, who has been identified by the initials M.İ.K.

The suspects have been charged with trading weapons, fabricating false official documents, skilled fraud, laundering money made out of criminal activity, bribery and extortion, as well as providing gun licenses to those who are not eligible to hold weapons.

Some 74 pistols of different sizes and brands, 5,354 pistol bullets, five hunting guns, 125 shells for hunting guns and 59 fake gun licenses were seized in the raids.

The suspects were reported to have received more than 20,000 Turkish Liras per gun license.

Police are still searching for 49 other suspects for whom arrest warrants were issued.

The 83 suspects detained were sent to the Sakarya Courthouse after a health check-up.