Security forces detained eight suspects linked to Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) on Friday, on charges of cheating in a 2010 exam for police promotions.
The suspects are accused of securing promotions to the rank of deputy inspector by stealing questions and answers with the aid of fellow FETÖ members.
The Ankara Chief Prosecutor's Office earlier issued detention warrants for the suspects. The detentions followed another investigation into the cheating in the 2011 exam for promotion to deputy inspector in Turkish police. Twenty-two people were detained on July 25 in that investigation.
According to prosecutors, FETÖ ran "study camps" for its recruits and tested the "loyalty" of followers there. If recruits passed a test, they were given questions and answers to exams by the group's point men, overseeing FETÖ's infiltration into the law enforcement. Prosecutors say they made the recruits memorize questions and answers given them in written forms and then destroyed the documents.
The terrorist group, accused of carrying out the July 15, 2016 coup attempt through its infiltrators in the military, is known for its widespread clout in all sectors, from law enforcement and military to bureaucracy and judiciary.
A report in the Turkish language daily, Sabah, claimed that FETÖ was involved in similar activates in many major exams, including the Turkish civil service exam.
Some 30,000 suspects were detected by security forces in exam cheating cases related to FETÖ. In the Public Personnel Selection Exam (KPSS) alone, 13,000 people were suspected of cheating after receiving the questions and answers from FETÖ. Around 700 suspects have so far been handed prison terms in a trial related to 2010 KPSS exam.
The terrorist group faced more scrutiny after the coup attempt, which was its first attempt at using its adherents in the military to seize power, just three years after it had tried its hand at a coup through its infiltrators in the judiciary and law enforcement.
Tens of thousands of people have been arrested or detained since the failed coup attempt, with a similar number having been dismissed from public sector jobs for links to the terrorist group.
