Authorities dismantle nine crime groups: Yerlikaya

Authorities dismantle nine crime groups: Yerlikaya

ANKARA
Authorities dismantle nine crime groups: Yerlikaya

Law enforcement authorities have dismantled nine separate crime organizations in simultaneous operations across nine of the country's 81 provinces, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on Jan. 29.

Haberin Devamı

The groups were operating in Istanbul, İzmir, Antalya, Balıkesir, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Tunceli, Kırşehir and Aksaray, Yerlikaya said in a post on X.

Authorities detained 76 suspects, with 50 of them placed under arrest, he said. Security forces also seized 10 unlicensed pistols, five unlicensed hunting rifles, numerous checks and title deeds and various amounts of drugs.

Prosecutors have launched investigations into the suspects on charges including establishing a criminal organization, arms and ammunition smuggling, usury, fraud, migrant smuggling, intentional injury, threats, drug trafficking, looting and destroying evidence.

"We are determined to cleanse our country of organized crime groups and gangs that consider themselves above the law and are arrogant in crime," Yerlikaya wrote. "Our operations in every corner of our country will continue uninterruptedly in this direction."

Türkiye,