Police arrests 3 for alleged drone shipment to Syria

ANKARA

Turkish police on Jan. 21 arrested three suspects for allegedly sending a shipment of four unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to terrorist groups in Syria, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Jan. 21.

The suspects were arrested in Istanbul and the southern Adana province, while another of Syrian nationality was held in the southern Hatay province, Anadolu Agency cited anonymous sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Acting on a tip-off received earlier this month, Adana police detained another suspect in a cargo office, while allegedly trying to send drones to people with links to terrorist groups in Syria.

Prosecutors in Adana issued arrest warrants for three other people over alleged links to terrorist groups.

Although the statement did not mention any specific terrorist group, Turkish forces have long been conducting operations against the terrorist group YPG/PKK in the region.

The U.S.-backed SDF, a group dominated by the YPG, has been controlling some 28 percent of the Syrian territories, including the most of the 911-kilometer-long Syria-Turkey border.

Turkey deems the YPG the Syrian offshoot of the illegal PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization also by the United States and the EU.

7 detained over suspected ISIL links

Meanwhile, at least seven people were detained in Turkey for their alleged links to the ISIL terror group, security sources said on Jan. 21.

Turkish gendarmerie teams detained four women, including the wife of a so-called emir of the ISIL terrorist group, in southern Hatay province, Anadolu Agency cited sources as saying.

Security forces in Turkey's northwestern province of Kocaeli were investigating the four suspects, who allegedly entered Turkey from Syria.

The suspects, who have allegedly fought for ISIL in Raqqa and Deir Ez-Zor in Syria since 2014, were detained in Hatay and were brought to Kocaeli.

Separately, in the Turkish capital Ankara, police detained three ISIL suspects in anti-terror operations.

Two of the suspects, who are Syrians, were detained after the duo were allegedly planning to send an electronic device to ISIL members in the conflict zones.

Turkey recognized ISIL as a terrorist group in 2013. Since then, the country has been attacked by ISIL terrorists numerous times, including 10 suicide bombings, seven bombings, and four armed attacks which killed 315 people and injured hundreds.

In response, Turkey has launched military and police operations inside the country and abroad to prevent terrorist attacks.