Turkey Detains Seven Suspects Selling Information To Israel's Mossad

Illustration. (Pixabay/4711018)

JAKARTA - Turkish police detained seven people, including a private detective, suspected of selling information to Israel's Mossad intelligence service, Turkish intelligence agencies said on Tuesday.

The detective, who is a former civil servant, allegedly gathered information about Middle Eastern companies and individuals in Turkey, installed tracking equipment and was involved in surveillance, MIT intelligence agency said.

A video released by the Ministry of Home Affairs showed police raiding houses in Istanbul, then confiscating weapons, medicine bags and electronic devices.

"We will never allow espionage activities to be carried out within our country's borders. We will arrest them one by one and bring them to justice," Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said via social media platform X.

MIT said the Turkish detective was trained by Mossad in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, and accepted payments in cryptocurrencies that did not appear on official records.

Separately, Israeli authorities did not immediately comment on the Turkish intelligence operation.

Earlier, a Turkish court in January ordered the arrest of 15 people and deportation of eight others, on suspicion of having ties to Mossad and targeting Palestinians living in Turkey. In February, Turkey detained seven people suspected of selling information to Mossad.

It is known that Turkish and Israeli leaders have been making public criticism since Israel's war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas began last October. Turkey has warned Israel will be "serious consequences" if they try to hunt down Hamas members living outside Palestinian territory, including in Turkey.