27 FETO terror-linked suspects nabbed across Turkey

By Anadolu Agency Staff

ADANA / SAMSUN / ESKISEHIR / EDIRNE, Turkey (AA) - Turkish security forces on Wednesday arrested at least 27 people over their alleged links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey, according to security sources.

Prosecutors in the Mediterranean province of Adana issued arrest warrants for eight suspects over the terror group’s infiltration of the state, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Through physical and digital surveillance, counter-terror teams found evidence the suspects had been in contact with covert “imams” – senior FETO members.

The suspects were arrested in an operation on their residences.

After health checks, they were taken to the police department.

A total of six suspects, including two-active duty soldiers, were nabbed in the Black Sea provinces of Samsun and Karabuk after prosecutors issued arrest warrants on suspicion of contacting covert imams via pay phones.

In the northwestern Eskisehir province, two fugitives already sentenced over membership in the terror group FETO were arrested by police.

The convicts were arrested at their homes. After routine procedures at the police department, they were transferred to prison.

As many as 11 FETO terror suspects were nabbed in an operation based in the northwestern province of Edirne and including four cities: the capital Ankara, the commercial capital Istanbul, the Aegean Izmir province, and the central province of Konya.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people dead and 2,734 injured.

Ankara accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.

* Writing by Dilan Pamuk in Ankara