Police officers detained for alleged illegal wiretapping

ANTALYA

Some 14 police officers were detained Sept. 29 for their alleged links to the 'parallel state,' a term used by the government for those who have allegedly infiltrated the state to work on behalf of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen’s movement.

Some 14 police officers were detained Sept. 29 for their alleged links to the “parallel state,” a term used by the government for those who have allegedly infiltrated the state to work on behalf of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen’s movement.

The early morning operation took place in five provinces, Antalya, Mersin, Hatay, Şanlıurfa and Diyarbakır.

The detained police officers included some former police intelligence chiefs, according to media reports. It is alleged that the police officers wiretapped 134 people.

The police officers face questioning on charges of “founding, managing a criminal organization for their interest, violating the privacy of communication, forgery in official documents [and] making up crimes.”

Dozens of police officers arrested in operations conducted in the last months are in custody pending trial on charges that they established a criminal organization and conducted espionage.

President Erdoğan has repeatedly accused Gülen, whose followers are known to have influential positions within the police and judiciary, of conducting the graft investigation in December, further claiming that the accusations of corruption were part of a coup attempt.