Seven suspects have been arrested in operations throughout three provinces in Türkiye against organized crime groups, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said Friday, adding that properties were also seized.
Nine suspects were caught, seven were arrested and judicial control decisions were issued for two of them in operations conducted in Çanakkale, Balıkesir and Tekirdağ by the Çanakkale Provincial Gendarmerie Command under the coordination of the Çanakkale Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and the Gendarmerie General Command's Department of Combating Smuggling and Organized Crime (KOM), Yerlikaya said on social media.
He said that the suspects pressured citizens by giving them high-interest loans, made them sign documents such as checks, promissory notes and title deeds as collateral, and took the assets of the victims who could not make payments by threatening and pressuring them.
“As a result of the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) data, 75 real estate properties and 34 vehicles worth TL 1.25 billion ($32.26 million) were seized from the suspects who carried out the crimes of money laundering and loan sharking. Within the scope of the operation, 2,478 checks and promissory notes, 10 check books and several computers, phones, documents and digital material were also seized,” the minister added.
Türkiye recently stepped up its efforts to combat organized crime. Last month, Turkish authorities arrested 234 high-ranking members of international organized crime groups in a sweeping operation coordinated across 20 provinces and nine foreign countries. The synchronized raids, dubbed Operation "Orkinos-Bulut," targeted transnational drug trafficking syndicates and their money laundering networks. Of the suspects detained, 225 were apprehended in Türkiye and nine abroad. Ten of the suspects were on Interpol’s red notice list.
