Roundup on prostitution ring with links to military
İZMİR - Anatolia News Agency
İzmir Police chief Ali Bilkay receives information on the operation, in which 27 people, including nine active-duty military members, were detained. DHA photo
Police have uncovered a prostitution ring that nine active-duty members of the military allegedly used to blackmail high-ranking officers and obtain confidential information about the Turkish military. 27 suspects have been detained amid claims of espionage.The members of the prostitution ring allegedly recorded secret footage of high-ranking officers while they were having sex with escorts, and later used the footage to blackmail them. The active-duty soldiers police arrested had been blackmailed themselves, and later participated in ensnaring their colleagues. They also allegedly profited financially from the ring’s activities.
Detentions
Authorities took some 27 suspects into custody in the case, including two colonels from the Gendarmerie General Command in Ankara; a naval commander from the Black Sea province of Zonguldak; an army captain, a non-commissioned officer and an air force major from the Aegean province of İzmir; and a naval lieutenant, an army lieutenant and a coast guard ensign from the southwestern province of Marmaris.
Police seized large quantities of military documents from the suspects’ homes and launched a multi-pronged investigation into the ring, including looking into the possibility of espionage, according to reports.
Several women who worked as escorts for the prostitution ring, as well as tourism investor B.Ö. and Narin Korkmaz, a 25-year-old student from İzmir who allegedly forced women brought from abroad into prostitution, were also among the 27 detained suspects.
İzmir Police Headquarters received a notice by e-mail in 2009 that blew the whistle on the prostutition ring.
