Security forces discovered a huge sum of cash, gold and silver in the office of two Daesh-linked terrorist suspects detained in an anti-terror operation in Istanbul, reports said Wednesday.
The suspects were reportedly nabbed in simultaneous anti-terror operations in Istanbul's Fatih, Avcılar, Ümraniye, Kadıköy and Çatalca districts on March 16.
Police discovered 8.5 kilograms of gold, 25 kilograms of silver, TL1,794,000 ($446,826), $1,300,000, 118,000 euros ($145,235), 1,921,000 Syrian pounds ($3,728), 4,500 Qatari riyals ($1,236), 22,000 Egyptian pounds ($1,245), 109,500 Saudi riyals ($29,200) 47,000 Emirati dirhams ($12,797) and 1,610 British pounds ($2,266), in total worth exceeding $2 million, and more.
Police noted that the suspects were carrying out money transfers for the Daesh terrorist group in Syria.
Weapons, bugging device detectors, hidden cameras, walkie-talkies and other devices were also discovered in the office, police said.
The suspects were arrested by the court for transferring money and supplying equipment to Daesh terrorists, reports noted.
Amid fears that Daesh militants who fled Syria could hit Europe and Turkey, authorities have heightened crackdowns on the terrorist group with almost daily operations to capture suspected militants.Though Daesh lost many strongholds in Iraq and Syria, a controversial deal between Daesh militants and Syrian groups linked to the PKK, a major terrorist group that carries out attacks in Turkey, helped their safe evacuation from Raqqa, Syria. Turkey shares a lengthy border with war-torn Syria and struggles to keep itself safe from infiltration despite a giant border wall that is currently under construction.
The country is at the forefront of efforts to quell threats from the terrorist group, which partly depends on foreign recruits for fighters.Turkey has stopped thousands trying to enter Syria to join the group over the past few years. It is now concerned with militants fleeing Iraq and Syria. The country has stopped 5,800 foreign Daesh recruits on its borders and arrested around 10,000 members of the terrorist group in continuous operations.
Daesh has targeted Turkey in a string of attacks in the past three years. The last large-scale Daesh attack was in Istanbul on Jan. 1, 2017. A lone gunman killed 39 people at an Istanbul nightclub during New Year's Eve celebrations. In Ankara, Daesh suicide bombers killed 109 people attending a peace rally near the capital city's train station.