Turkey detains seven suspected of selling information to Israel’s Mossad

Turkish police detained seven people, including a private detective, suspected of selling information to Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, Turkey’s intelligence agency said on Tuesday.

The detective, who was a former public servant, was suspected of gathering information on Middle Eastern companies and individuals in Turkey, placing tracking devices and engaging in surveillance, the MIT intelligence agency said.

A video released by the interior ministry showed police raiding homes in Istanbul and seizing guns, bags of drugs and electronic devices.

“We will never allow espionage activities to be carried out within the borders of our country. We will catch them one by one and bring them to justice,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on social media platform X.

Israel did not immediately comment on the operation.

The Turkish detective was trained by Mossad in the Serbian capital Belgrade and received payments in cryptocurrency that did not appear in official records, MIT said.

A Turkish court in January ordered the arrest of 15 people and the deportation of eight others suspected of having links to Mossad and targeting Palestinians living in Turkey. In February, Turkey detained seven suspected of selling information to Mossad.

Turkish and Israeli leaders have traded public barbs since Israel’s war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas began last October. Turkey has warned Israel of “serious consequences” if it tries to hunt down Hamas members living outside the Palestinian territories, including in Turkey.