03.12.2025 16:15
Erdal Timurtaş is wanted for stealing approximately 25 kilograms of gold and 50 kilograms of silver, valued at around 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, coins, half, and quarter pieces.
The investigation into the theft that occurred in the safe 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 safe office with the staff, removed 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 emptied using a key. According to a report by İHA, it was learned that the suspect messaged his friends on the messaging application WhatsApp before fleeing, saying, "I sold the goods, may God bless your 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.
"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," said tradesman Sunmak, adding, "He was a great kid. He had a cart full of gold. I knew he worked in the judicial safe. I trusted him. He was someone who took care of his job."
AMOUNTS OF STOLEN GOLD
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 noticing that Erdal Timurtaş, a staff member working in the Emanet Bureau of the Büyükçekmece Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, had not come to work for a long time, the responsible public prosecutor had the safes opened yesterday.
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