By Anadolu Agency staff
ISTANBUL/ANKARA/KIRKLARELI (AA) – At least 71 people with suspected links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup, were arrested in operations across Turkey, security sources said on Tuesday.
Police teams conducted simultaneous operations in five provinces and arrested 25 suspects after prosecutors issued warrants for 36 people, said the sources, requesting anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
The suspects are accused of providing financial support to FETO and some were found to be using the terror group’s encrypted messaging app ByLock.
Investigators have ascertained that three suspects have fled Turkey, while efforts are on to track down the remaining eight, the sources said.
In an operation in the western Izmir province, security forces nabbed 35 FETO suspects, include a wanted former police chief, dismissed judges, and soldiers.
The suspects would frequently change their locations to avoid being caught and used to rent houses through people with no record of links to FETO, the sources said.
Fake identity documents, cash, and digital materials were seized in the raids.
In a separate operation, a wanted non-commissioned officer, identified only by the initials I.P., was apprehended in the northwestern Kirklareli province.
Security teams arrested 10 more suspects in raids in 13 provinces, according to judicial sources.
The operations were carried out after prosecutors in the capital Ankara issued arrest warrants for 19 people over suspected links to FETO.
Efforts are continuing to nab the remaining individuals, the sources added.
FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, in which 251 people were martyred and nearly 2,200 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 Seda Sevencan in Ankara