Turkish police capture 3 organized crime leaders

By Zafer Fatih Beyaz

Police in Türkiye captured three organized crime leaders, the country’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Tuesday.

Thomas Josef Konrad, who was wanted under an Interpol red notice, was captured in Antalya’s Alanya district as part of Operation Cage-21, Yerlikaya said.

Konrad was involved in drug trafficking in Poland and he was the ringleader of an organized crime group that brought large quantities of drugs from Morocco to Italy and Spain.

Jinking Peng, who was wanted in China for "fraud and illegal organization activities" with a red notice, was caught in the Fatih district of Istanbul. He was also wanted under an Interpol red notice.

Daniel Alexander Muller, who was wanted as the fugitive suspect in the operation in which one ton of cocaine was seized in Germany, was detained in the Beyoglu district of Istanbul.

“We are determined to cleanse our country from national and international organized crime organizations and poison traffickers,” Yerlikaya added.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar