Police nab 33 ISIL suspects over plotting attacks

ANKARA

The police have apprehended 33 suspects of the ISIL terrorist organization over allegedly preparing attacks ahead of the country’s local elections later this month, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya has said.

The suspects were “preparing and searching for action before the upcoming local elections,” Yerlikaya wrote on X on March 10. Nationwide elections are due to be held on March 31.

Counter-terrorism police in the northwestern province of Sakarya recovered weapons, cash and organizational documents during raids.

“We will not tolerate any terrorists. We will continue our fight uninterruptedly with the superior efforts of our security forces,” Yerlikaya said.

The network was providing personnel for war zones and financial support for ISIL while operating from illegal mosques and religious schools, he said.

In 2013, Türkiye became one of the first countries to declare ISIL a terrorist group.

Espionage suspects confess to links with Mossad

Meanwhile, espionage suspects nabbed in Türkiye earlier this week have admitted that they sold information to Israeli intelligence agency Mossad about individuals and organizations of Middle Eastern origin residing in the country, leading to the arrest of six of them.

The National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and Istanbul police on March 5 jointly conducted an operation and apprehended seven suspects, including a former police chief and a private detective who allegedly provided information to Mossad in exchange for money.

According to the court testimonies reported in the media, the suspects confirmed engaging in activities such as threats, surveillance, reconnaissance and photo-video operations against Middle Eastern people and companies, conveying compiled information and prepared reports to Mossad through covert communication methods.

Members of the team established by Hamza Turhan Ayberk, a former law enforcement officer who identified himself as a private detective when caught, admitted sharing some public data of individuals and companies with Ayberk, conducting surveillance, filming videos and documenting threatened individuals.

The team members also disclosed that Ayberk's financial situation remarkably improved after 2019. During the investigation, the police identified 63 active and 35 closed bank accounts belonging to Ayberk.

Testimonies revealed that a Mossad agent, using the codename Victoria, established contact with Ayberk in 2019, introducing him to two other agents named Robert and Andrea in September 2020.

Victoria assigned trial missions to test Ayberk, and eventually, Andrea and Robert collected information about individuals and companies deemed threats to Israeli foreign policy and national interests. Contacting Ayberk through nine telephone numbers associated with Slovakia and South Africa's GSM networks in 2019, Victoria transferred the information obtained by Ayberk to another Mossad agent named Marc in July 2022.

Victoria and Ayberk agreed to transition their financial transactions from bank accounts to Bitcoin.

In a social media post, Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç stated that 57 suspects and defendants are still under arrest as part of investigations and prosecutions that have been opened on different dates since October 2021.

The number of arrests for the same offense increased to 63 with the latest operation, Tunç added.