The police of Turkey's Istanbul said on Wednesday that they had seized $127.5 million in counterfeit bills that were meant to be transferred to members of the movement of Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, operating in South America and Africa, media reported
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th January, 2020) The police of Turkey's Istanbul said on Wednesday that they had seized $127.5 million in counterfeit bills that were meant to be transferred to members of the movement of Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, operating in South America and Africa, media reported.
The fake bills were discovered on Tuesday, when the police raided two addresses in the Kagithane and Sariyer districts of Istanbul, the Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah reported.
Along with the bills, the police seized printing machines. Moreover, eight suspects were detained and four of them were subsequently released under judicial control, the media said.
In July, the Financial Crime Unit of the Istanbul Security Directorate confiscated $271 million in counterfeit bills as part of an operation held in the Esenyurt district of the city. Following this raid, Istanbul police detained several suspects over their alleged links to Gulen's movement, referred to as the Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) by Ankara. Moreover, the security forces prevented the gang's leader, identified as A.A., from fleeing to Bulgaria in October.
The Turkish government has long been accusing Gulen and those affiliated with him of attempting to conduct a coup d'etat. Following the short-lived overthrow attempt on July 15, 2016, thousands were arrested including state and military personnel, civil activists, journalists and teachers and tens of thousands more have been dismissed or suspended over their suspected links to Gulen's movement. The cleric, who lives in exile in the United States, has denied the accusations of being behind the coup bid.
