Turkish police detained 160 out of 224 wanted suspects in a massive bribery operation on Tuesday. The detentions are a culmination of an investigation by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul. The suspects were detained in Istanbul and four other cities.
Authorities said 54 suspects were public officials and most of them were working at the municipality of Kadıköy, a central, crowded district on Istanbul’s Asian side. Suspects are accused of organizing a bribery scheme, mediating bribes between public officials and people bribing them, and forgery of official documents. A search is underway to capture the other suspects in operations in Istanbul, Izmir, Adana, Kocaeli and Şırnak.
Among the suspects were officers from zabıta (a municipal department mainly in charge of inspecting businesses) and engineers working at Kadıköy municipality.
Police are searching the locations where suspects were detained and have confiscated a large number of written and digital documents.
