Turkey has arrested 15 suspects who have allegedly worked with Israel's Mossad intelligence agency within its territory, Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah reported on Thursday.
According to the report, 200 members of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) took part in the massive crackdown on October 7 in which they uncovered five spy cells that had been operating in four Turkish provinces for a year.
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Portraits of some of the suspects as published by Daily Sabah
(Photo: Screenshot/Daily Sabah)
The newspaper also said that all suspects were Arab and published blurred-out photos of some of them.
The pro-government daily said that the suspects have provided the Mossad with information on foreign students who can potentially work in the defense industry in the future in exchange for money as well as spy on Palestinian organizations operating in the country.
The report further claimed that one of the main cogs in the spy ring, identified only by his initials AB, entered Turkey back in 2015 and was in contact with a "field agent carrying an Israeli passport linked to the Mossad" and was paid $10,000 a year for his work.
Turkish police reported him missing in June, which it said to have allowed the spy cell to operate uninterrupted, but Sabah claimed that Turkish intelligence were already tracking him at the time.
Another suspected was also previously reported missing. He flew to the Croatian capital Zagreb in late June, where he allegedly met Mossad agents. Another member of the same cell is said to have flown twice to Zurich, Switzerland, where he allegedly met with Mossad agents. He too, like the others, was declared missing.
Turkish officials said that this was the largest intelligence operation on the country's soil since the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi which was attributed to Saudi Arabia.