15.03.2021 14:12
Couple convicted of FETO links put behind bars after nabbed near border with Georgia.
At least 27 people were arrested Monday for their suspected links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in the country, according to a security source.
The prosecutors sought the arrest of 36 suspects, including 24 on-duty, three retired and nine dismissed soldiers, in the northwestern Balikesir province as part of a probe launched into the terror group's infiltration into the military, said the source on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
It was found that the suspects were in contact with FETO members via pay phone, it added.
A simultaneous operation launched in 32 provinces is ongoing to arrest the remaining suspects, the source said.
In the northwestern Edirne province, which borders Greece, three suspects were arrested by police while preparing to flee to Greece illegally.
The police found out that the suspects, who were identified with the initials N.B., O.A. and E.G., had existing legal files for armed terror group membership.
Couple nabbed near border put in jail
Meanwhile, a couple with FETO links were arrested while they attempted to escape abroad via Sarp border crossing in northeastern Artvin province, said a security source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
Acting on a tip-off, local police teams nabbed the couple, who have already been slapped with a prison term for being FETO members and using the terror group's encrypted messaging app ByLock, while they were hiding in the trailer of a truck to enter Georgia.
The suspects, identified by the initials M.K.K. -- dismissed from his position at Hitit University -- and S.R.K., were sent to prison after procedures at security directorate, the source added.
FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, in which 251 people were martyred and 2,734 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 Sena Guler and Dilan Pamuk in Ankara -