Lebanese bank robbers nabbed in Istanbul after PM Hariri asks for Turkey’s help
ISTANBUL
Two men who were suspected of robbing a bank in Lebanon have been detained in Istanbul after Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri called his Turkish counterpart to ask for help, Turkish newspaper Akşam reported on June 1.
According to the report, the Lebanese intelligence agency was after Mohmammed Khal Sido and Mohammad Ali Yassine who were charged with robbing around 1 million U.S. dollars from a bank in Lebanon before fleeing to Turkey.
Hariri recently called his Turkish counterpart Binali Yıldırım and asked for cooperation in the case. After Yıldırım accepted the request, intelligence agencies of both countries started to cooperate.
After Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) located the Lebanese suspects in a hotel in Istanbul’s Fatih district, a police operation was launched by a special unit that came from Ankara, the report added.
The newspaper reported that the two suspects were detained and deported to Lebanon in the end, together with approximately 600,000 U.S. dollars.
