Turkish authorities detained 51 suspects in coordinated raids across six provinces centered on Istanbul for allegedly helping foreign nationals obtain residence permits with forged documents.

The Istanbul Police Department’s Anti-Human Trafficking and Border Gates Branch carried out the raids on tips and information gathered during ongoing investigations.

They had initiated a preliminary inquiry under the coordination of the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office upon suspicion that residence permits had been obtained using forged documents.

The teams determined that the suspects had submitted altered documents, produced fake paperwork and committed human trafficking offenses using fraudulent declarations during residence permit applications for foreigners.

After completing the investigation, authorities pinpointed the identities and addresses of the suspects and carried out simultaneous operations across six Istanbul provinces, arresting 51 individuals.

The suspects were taken into police custody for further processing.

As part of the investigation, procedures were launched to cancel the residence permits and deport 441 people who had irregularly obtained them with forged documents.