Customs officials confess taking bribes at Turkish-Greek border

ISTANBUL

Around 18 customs officials, including the general manager of the İpsala Customs Station, have confessed to bribery, with the prosecutor’s office of the province of Edirne near the Greek border having launched an indictment against them.

According to daily Hürriyet, officials reaped money from lorry drivers passing to and from Greece with excuses like they were missing papers.

Officials were collecting a sum of money in 20, 50 and 100 euros as bribery from the lorry drivers and giving it to a senior official. The total amount was then shared once a fortnight. Some 500 to 600 euros would go to the General Manager Mustafa Kemal Mısırlıoğlu, and the rest of the amount was split between others involved.

In the investigation, police found around 7,900 euros in an official’s house and 8,500 euros in another’s.

When asked “Why did you take bribes?” one of the officials said, “I had installments to pay,” according to the police sources.