Authorities issued arrest warrants for 110 suspects in investigations into Gülenist Terror Group's (FETÖ) network of infiltrators in the army and law enforcement.
The Chief Prosecutor's Office in the capital Ankara ordered the arrest of 40 suspects in the first operation that targeted suspects linked to law enforcement.
The probe was about leaking the questions and answers to a 2011 exam for the promotion of police officers and 31 out of 40 suspects accused of taking exam questions beforehand from FETÖ figures were arrested while operations were underway to capture the other suspects.
The arrests follow a May operation where arrest warrants were issued for 101 suspects in the same probe. In February, Ankara police launched another probe for fraud in the 2010 edition of the same exam and arrested 257 people, including 198 who confessed to being supplied questions and answers to the exam from FETÖ members. The terrorist group is already implicated in a series of exam frauds.
It is accused of committing fraud by stealing questions and answers for exams for employment in the public sector. This was one of several ways for FETÖ to plant its infiltrators into public institutions.
In another investigation, prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 50 suspected infiltrators of FETÖ in the Turkish army's Land Forces.
Twenty-six suspects were caught in the operations. Authorities say they were in contact with FETÖ handlers via payphones to avoid detection and were identified through their contacts. FETÖ is known for assigning handlers to their infiltrator cells in the army and those handlers named "imams" are accused of relaying instructions from senior cadres to the infiltrators.
FETÖ is accused of carrying out the July 15, 2016 coup attempt that killed 251 people and authorities believe that "imams" instructed the infiltrators, from generals to noncommissioned officers, to stage the coup. Also in Ankara, arrest warrants were issued for secret FETÖ members operating in the Naval Forces and Coast Guard Command. Operations were underway to capture 20 suspects, including seven active-duty soldiers.
