Head Of Heroin Ring Wanted By Interpol Arrested By İstanbul Police

Teams from the İstanbul Police Department's narcotics unit arrested Cumhur Yakut, who is thought to be the head of a heroin-trafficking ring for whom Interpol issued a red notice 13 years ago, in İstanbul's Sarıyer district on Saturday.



According to reports from news agencies, the police determined that 63-year-old Yakut had returned to Turkey illegally early this year. After a three-month-long investigation, police discovered that Yakut was living in a villa in Sarıyer.



On Saturday police and a special forces unit raided the house, and Yakut broke his leg while trying to escape by jumping from a wall in the garden. Police also seized a number of guns in Yakut's villa. He was taken to a hospital and later transferred to the İstanbul Police Department for questioning.



Yakut, the son-in-law of a former parliamentarian, has been wanted by the Turkish police since 2000, with four separate warrants for his arrest issued by courts in Diyarbakır, İstanbul and Van. His family is also under police surveillance in an anti-drug trafficking operation that has been under way since 1996.



Media reports also linked Yakut to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Susurluk gang, a shadowy crime group with links to state officials, including deputies, police and intelligence officials.



Yakut is on the US list of leading drug traffickers in the world. (Cihan/Today's Zaman)