Turkey holds more than 980 terror suspects in one week

ANKARA

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More than 980 terror suspects were detained in Turkey over the past seven days, the Interior Ministry said on Jan. 30.      

They included 625 suspected members of the Fethullah Gülen network, widely belived to have orchestrated the fialed coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

Others included 328 who had suspected links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and 26 suspected militants of  Islamic State and Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Fourty-one of the PKK uspects an done ISIL suspect were arrested, the ministry said in a written statement.

Police also detained seven other suspects over alleged links to an outlawed leftist group.  
    
During the operations, “four terrorists were neutralized” the statement said, adding three were captured, while another surrendered to security forces.

Turkish authorities use the word “neutralized” in their statements to imply the militants in question were killed, captured, or otherwise incapacitated.   

Additionally, 21 improvised explosive devices and 25 shelters were destroyed by the security forces, who seized 418 kilograms  of materials used in manufacturing explosives, along with 17 grenades and 43 weapons.      

Security forces also conducted 586 anti-drug operations across the country in an effort to curtail terrorist financing, and seized in various amounts narcotic drugs including cocaine, heroin, marijuana, opiates, hemp root, and meth, as well as more than 780,000 packs of smuggled cigarettes, and 24,502 liters of smuggled oil.

The operations also led to the detention of 765 suspects, 101 of whom were remanded in custody.  
   
Meanwhile, 2,286 irregular migrants were captured over the past week, while the police detained 38 people on suspicion of organizing human trafficking, 13 of whom were arrested.