03.12.2025 16:15
Erdal Timurtaş is being sought for stealing 25 kilograms of gold and 50 kilograms of silver, valued at approximately 147 million lira, from the custody safe of the Büyükçekmece Courthouse in Istanbul. It has been revealed that Timurtaş took the gold out of the judicial custody in a single trip using a shopping cart, and the gold is reported to be in the form of bracelets, necklaces, and various coins including reşat, half, and quarter.
The investigation into the theft that occurred in the custody of the Büyükçekmece Chief Public Prosecutor's Office is ongoing.
THE MAGNITUDE OF THE THEFT IS 147 MILLION
As part of the investigation, it was determined that Erdal Timurtaş, who worked in the custody office with the staff, took out 25 kilograms of gold and 50 kilograms of silver (approximately worth 147 million lira) in one go using a shopping cart.
LEFT FULL, RETURNED EMPTY
It was established that the suspect Erdal Timurtaş left the courthouse with a full metal shopping cart but returned empty, and the safes were opened with a key and emptied. According to a report by İHA, it was learned that before fleeing, the suspect wrote to his friends on the messaging application WhatsApp, "I sold the goods, may God give you a market."
"I WOULD NEVER HAVE EXPECTED"
While the investigation is ongoing, Erkut Sunmak, a tradesman at the cafeteria next to the courthouse, stated that he knew Timurtaş.
Sunmak said, "Erdal would stop by in the morning and evening. He was a great kid, I liked him a lot. I couldn't believe it, I never expected such a thing from him." He added, "He was a great kid. He had a car for the gold. I knew he worked in the custody office. I trusted him. He was someone who took care of his job."
AMOUNTS OF GOLD STOLEN
So far, the following items have been identified as stolen: 9,006 grams of gold, 49 pieces of reşat gold, 438 necklaces, 66 grams of earrings, 5 kilograms of gold, 7 gold medals, 167 pieces of full gold, 606 bracelets, 1,477 grams of bracelets, 376 half gold, 1,328 quarter gold, 40 republic gold, 2,701 grams of jewelry, 487 ata gold, 6 pieces of gremse gold, and 50 kilograms of silver.
WHAT HAPPENED?
After Erdal Timurtaş, a staff member working in the Custody Office of the Büyükçekmece Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, had not come to work for a long time, the responsible public prosecutor, who became suspicious yesterday, had the custody officer K.D. open the safes.
Upon realizing that the safes were empty, it was determined during the investigation that approximately 50 kilograms of silver and approximately 25 kilograms of gold belonging to the investigation and prosecution files were missing.
The prosecutor instructed the law enforcement to detain E.T. and K.D., who was responsible for the safes, while it was discovered during the investigation that Erdal Timurtaş had fled to England with his wife and children on November 19 at 08:22 by plane from Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport.
Source: AA, İHA