Arrests made in raid against Turkish criminal organisation

The mafia boss allegedly boasted that his men managed "the entire German market" of illegal weapons and that he could also sell in Switzerland. KEYSTONE

A total of 19 suspects were arrested on Wednesday in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and Turkey in a cross-border raid against a Turkish criminal organisation. According to the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland, property searches were carried out in cantons Aargau and Zurich in connection with the raid.

The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) carried out the searches as part of a request for mutual legal assistance from Milan with the support of the Federal Police (Fedpol) and cantonal police in Aargau and Zurich.

According to Italian news agencies, the detainees are accused of being members of a criminal organisation that pursues terrorist aims, among other things. They are also accused of illegal possession of weapons and explosives, international drug trafficking, murder, and promoting illegal immigration.

Bug in bracelet

According to the Adnkronos agency, the details were published in the arrest warrant issued by the Milan public prosecutor’s office. The boss of the organisation is among those arrested. Apparently, the Italian police had hidden a bug in his electronic bracelet. He was already under house arrest.

In the intercepted conversations, he alledgedly admitted to having a large arsenal of weapons including Kalashnikovs and hand grenades. In a conversation about arms trafficking, he reportedly explained that his organisation also held heavy weapons in Switzerland.

Dominating the arms market

He also boasted that his men managed “the entire German market” and that he could also sell in Switzerland. He even had his own weapons manufacturer.

According to the Milan public prosecutor’s office, the wiretap logs not only prove existence of the criminal organisation’s large arsenal of weapons in Italy, Europe, and Turkey, but also that they included weapons of war.

These were imported to Italy and other European countries and sold to other organisations. The weapons were used by the group for acts of intimidation and murder, but also for attacks, and to protect the interests of the leader and the group.

Adapted from German by DeepL/dkk/ac

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