Police launched operations yesterday to capture 68 shareholders of the now-defunct Bank Asya, a major lender associated with the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ).

Forty-nine of those suspects were captured when Daily Sabah went to print. Media outlets have reported that two of the suspects were abroad, while the whereabouts of the remaining suspects are still unknown.

Operations in nine provinces, including Istanbul, targeted main shareholders of Bank Asya - which was seized by the state in 2015 for its links to the terrorist group accused of multiple coup attempts starting in 2013. The suspects had voting rights to determine the bank's board of management.

Before its seizure, Bank Asya was a main source of money laundering for the terrorist group, according to investigations. When it hit a financial bottleneck a few years ago, sympathizers of the terrorist group rushed to donate to the lender.

Although it was designated a national threat in 2014, the crackdown on FETÖ intensified after the July 15, 2016 coup attempt by the group's infiltrators in the military. Thousands were arrested or detained for their links to the group, while a large number of people were dismissed from their public sector posts.