Police chief accused of counterfeiting

A high-ranking police chief and 16 other suspects, two of whom are foreign citizens, have been detained in Istanbul in an operation against a counterfeiting ring.

Police raided several addresses on Nov. 19 in simultaneous operations at homes and businesses in the districts of Başakşehir, Bahçelievler, Bağcılar, Zeytinburnu, Büyükçekmece, Silivri and Kadıköy. One of the addresses raided was a recreation facility belonging to the police, where Chief Inspector Üzeyir Sözen was detained for alleged links to a counterfeiting ring that printed Russian rubles, Doğan news agency reported.

Two printing houses were also raided in the operations and 6,120 5,000-ruble bills, 2,000 35-by-50-centimeter slips of paper used for printing the money and an unlicensed gun were confiscated. Police sources said the confiscated counterfeit money had a total value of 1.8 million Turkish Liras.

According to reports, Sözen met with Yusuf Durul, the alleged leader of the gang, at the Baltalimanı Police Center on Nov. 19 to allegedly discuss a possible transaction. His phone conversations with Durul, who had been under police surveillance for some time, were recorded and a raid was made during the meeting.

The police officers who participated in the raid were brought in from other provinces to prevent any possible information leak, daily Milliyet reported yesterday.