Turkish official: 8 arrested on suspicion of spying for Israel

Turkey’s interior minister says eight suspects have been arrested on suspicion of spying for Israel.

The suspects allegedly had contact with Israeli intelligence services and transferred information and documents to them, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya writes on X, formerly Twitter.

Two of the suspects were arrested and a “judicial control decision” was handed down for six other suspects, Yerlikaya says.

“We will never allow espionage activities that are intended to be carried out against our national unity and solidarity within the borders of our country. We are following!” he adds, while sharing a video purporting to show the arrests, accompanied by dramatic background music.

İsrail İstihbarat Servisinin hedefindeki Türkiye’de bulunan şahıslar ile şirketler hakkında bilgi derleyen ve İsrail İstihbarat unsurlarına topladığı bilgi ve belgeleri aktaran şahıslara yönelik düzenlenen “KÖSTEBEK-3” operasyonunda 8️⃣ şüpheli yakalandı❗️

Şüphelilerden;
????2️⃣’si… pic.twitter.com/bkCSNc7mxh

— Ali Yerlikaya (@AliYerlikaya) April 5, 2024

Turkey has made several such rounds of arrests in recent months.

In March, Turkish police detained seven people, including a private detective, suspected of selling information to Israel’s Mossad spy agency while in January a Turkish court ordered the arrest of 15 people and the deportation of eight others suspected of having links to Israeli intelligence and targeting Palestinians living in Turkey.

Turkish and Israeli leaders have traded public barbs since the war in Gaza erupted with Hamas’s October 7 massacre. Turkey has warned Israel of “serious consequences” if it tries to hunt down Hamas members living outside the Palestinian territories, including in Turkey.