Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said Friday that authorities have brought back 40 fugitives to Türkiye from 10 countries through international cooperation, including suspects wanted on Interpol red notices and others sought at the national level.
In a statement shared on social media, Yerlikaya said 20 of the suspects were wanted under Interpol red notices, while the remaining 20 were sought by Turkish authorities through national arrest warrants.
Yerlikaya said the suspects were captured through joint operations with law enforcement agencies in Georgia, Germany, Bulgaria, the U.S., Croatia, Switzerland, Montenegro, Russia and Greece.
Among those arrested in Georgia were suspects wanted for crimes including premeditated murder, membership in a criminal organization, theft, violation of home inviolability, assault, encouraging prostitution, robbery, drug trafficking, forgery of official documents and sexual abuse of a child, he said.
Other red-notice suspects were detained in several countries, Yerlikaya said. A suspect wanted for cyber fraud was captured in the U.S. Suspects wanted for drug trafficking, murder and offenses including resisting an officer and unlawful deprivation of liberty were detained in Germany. A suspect wanted for attempted murder was arrested in Croatia, while another wanted for causing death through intentional injury was detained in Montenegro. A murder suspect was captured in Russia, and another suspect was arrested in Greece.
Yerlikaya also provided details on suspects wanted at the national level. A suspect wanted for terrorist propaganda was detained in Switzerland, while another suspect sought for crimes including fraud, bribery, forgery of official documents, robbery and illegal acquisition of personal data was captured in Bulgaria.
The remaining nationally wanted suspects were detained in Georgia, Yerlikaya said. They were sought for a range of offenses, including cyber fraud, theft, drug trafficking, identity fraud, murder, illegal possession of firearms, torture, embezzlement and concealing the illicit source of assets. All were extradited to Türkiye, he added.
Yerlikaya congratulated personnel from the National Police’s Interpol-Europol Department, intelligence units, organized crime, narcotics, cybercrime, counterterrorism and public order divisions, as well as officials from the Justice Ministry, for their role in the operations.
