Police capture three more international crime kingpins
ISTANBUL
Turkish authorities have captured three notorious leaders of foreign crime organizations in coordinated operations conducted in Istanbul and the southern province of Antalya.
Thomas Josef Konrad, identified as the mastermind behind an intricate drug trafficking syndicate operating between Poland, Morocco, Italy and Spain, was apprehended in the southern town of Alanya, according to a statement by Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya on Dec. 19. Konrad had an Interpol red notice against him.
The criminal organization, under Konrad's leadership, was responsible for transporting large quantities of drugs across Europe, with the ringleader now in custody.
Jinking Pen, another key figure of organized crime, faced charges of fraud and illegal organizational activities in China. Pen, who was also the subject of an Interpol red bulletin, was captured in Istanbul's Fatih district.
Daniel Alexander Muller, the third leader nabbed in the operations, had been on the run as a fugitive suspect in Germany in connection with a massive cocaine seizure operation. Muller was captured in Beyoğlu, with Interpol issuing a diffusion notice, underscoring the urgency of his capture pending a red notice.
"We are determined to clean our country from national and international organized crime organizations and poison dealers," Yerlikaya wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
The operations are the latest in a series of busts and arrests over recent weeks targeting international organized crime rings. Last month, Turkish authorities captured Hakan Ayık, a high-profile fugitive wanted in Australia for drug smuggling. Alongside him, 36 other individuals involved in an expansive international crime syndicate, pursued by U.S. and New Zealand authorities, were also apprehended.
In another operation earlier this month, Shaun Monaghan, the leader of a notorious British gang involved in drug smuggling, illegal gun trade and armed robbery, was arrested in Istanbul. Additionally, another recent operation against organized crime led to the capture of Shamil Amirov, a senior figure in the Russian crime group known as "Thieves in Law."
