Soldiers detained over operation into intel trucks

ISTANBUL

The trucks were stopped on Jan. 19 for allegedly carrying weapons to Syria. DHA photo

Two soldiers have been detained as part of an investigation into an operation in which gendarmerie teams stopped and searched trucks belonging to Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MİT) in Adana, daily Hürriyet has reported.  

The trucks were stopped on Jan. 19 for allegedly carrying weapons to Syria, but government officials said the seized truck and its personnel belonged to the legally immune MİT.

Interior Minister Efkan Ala claimed that the truck was carrying aid to Turkmens in Syria but did not give details about its cargo.

Prosecutor Özcan Şişman, who was also tasked with probing the Reyhanlı bombing that killed more than 50 people last spring, instructed local gendarmerie forces to conduct an official search of the truck by emptying its cargo. However, the gendarmerie was prevented from obeying the prosecutor, after receiving a written order from the governor instructing them not to search the truck. 

Prosecutor Şişman was removed from his post after the incident.