Report: 44 Suspected of Spying for Mossad in Turkey, Seven Arrested

Turkey’s Daily Sabah reported Wednesday that a joint operation by Istanbul police and the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) against suspects spying on Palestinians in the country led to the detention of 44 people. Seven of them were subsequently arrested. The suspects are accused of leaking information about Palestinian expatriates in the country to the Mossad.

Turkish authorities have been investigating Istanbul-based “consulting companies,” which offered private investigation services for their customers for a while via their contacts with the Israeli agency. The Mossad paid suspects to run surveillance on Palestinians and their nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Turkey, according to investigators. An operation was launched earlier this week against the suspects. Interrogated suspects’ statements revealed that their work helped the Mossad launch online defamation campaigns and threats against Palestinians.

A search is also underway to capture 13 other suspects in the operations. Among the detainees are a suspect whose name was given as I.Y., who founded a private investigators’ association in 2007, and a university lecturer at a university.

MIT exposed another network of operatives working for the Mossad last year. The network, which consisted of five separate cells of three people, was tracked by MIT units for a year. After the information was shared with police, counterterrorism forces caught the 15 spies in a secret operation carried out on Oct. 7 in four provinces. According to reports, the spies had been providing the Mossad information on international students enrolled in Turkish universities, especially those who thought they could work in the defense industry in the future.

Turkish police, in cooperation with MIT, had uncovered a string of espionage networks in recent years, including one working for Russia, and found a plot by Iran to assassinate Israeli citizens in Turkey.

In July, Iranian officials alleged that Mossad operatives were “freely” running operations within Turkey following reports that an Iranian plot to kidnap and kill Israelis had been foiled the previous month.