An ex-gendarmerie commander and four prosecutors have been arrested for allegedly violating national security over a 2014 incident where trucks belonging to the Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MİT) were stopped and searched near Syria.

The arrests came late on Thursday, a day after the High Criminal Court No:2 in the southern district of Tarsus issued arrest warrants for Adana's former provincial gendarmerie (rural police) commander Özkan Cokay, former chief public prosecutor Süleyman Bağrıyanık plus prosecutors Özcan Şişman, Aziz Takci and Ahmet Karaca.

They were brought to prison after a court hearing on Thursday.

Earlier this year, the Turkish Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) suspended the prosecutors from duty. The board then announced that it decided to suspend prosecutors Süleyman Bağrıyanık, Ahmet Karaca, Aziz Takcı, Özcan Şişman and Yaşar Kavalcıklıoğlu until the investigation is completed.In January 2014, trucks belonging to MİT carrying aid to Turkmens were stopped and intercepted by security forces upon the order of former Adana Public Prosecutor Özcan Şişman. The supplies in the trucks were seized and MİT staffers were handcuffed before they were detained, which prompted the government to reform its intelligence laws in an effort to avoid such situations in the future. The governor of the province was informed about the incident in its latest phase, and many believe the operation was aimed at creating a political crisis via joint efforts by the Gülen Movement and anti-government media outlets that made the incident public, despite its highly confidential status.Furthermore, an Istanbul court ruled in April for the arrest of 17 high-ranking military officers on charges of stopping and raiding trucks belonging to Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MİT). Last month, an Istanbul prosecutor ordered the detention of 34 high-ranking army members, including those who were tasked with stopping and raiding trucks belonging to MİT while en route to Syria to carry supplies to Turkmens in January 2014, on charges of spying. Istanbul Public Deputy Prosecutor İrfan Fidan, who looked into the alleged offense, said 24 of the 34 officers were detained.Sixteen of the 34 officers were reported to be tasked in the southern province of Adana where the MİT trucks were intercepted by security forces on the order of a prosecutor who allegedly acted on a tip that the trucks were full of ammunition to be delivered to a terrorist organization. The operation that subsequently detained the MİT trucks is believed to be a plot hatched by the Gülen Movement in order to spark a crisis. As more details have been unveiled pertaining to the matter, the possibility that the operation was pre-planned and conducted by members of the Gülen Movement in the police and prosecutors in a purported attempt to defame the government, which it considers its foe, strengthened, prompting the prosecutor's office to investigate the incident.