Turkish police capture 56 suspects from 18 countries wanted by Interpol

In a major operation, the Turkish police captured 56 suspects wanted in 18 countries with Interpol’s urgent arrest warrant. The photo shows the capture of the Eric Schoeder, wanted by Germany for drugs smuggling and organizaed crime last week, on December 27. (Photo: Turkish Interior Ministry)

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on January 3 that 56 suspects under Red Bulletin and Urgent Apprehension warrants by Interpol were captured in Türkiye in a massive police operation in 11 provinces. Yerlikaya said in his “X” message that the wanted people were citizens of the USA, Germany, Azerbaijan, UAE, Belarus, Morocco, Palestine, India, Israel, Iran, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, and Jordan; without giving further details.
Mr. Yerlikaya said the operation with the code name “Cage-28” was simultaneously carried out in the Turkish provinces of İstanbul, Antalya, Sakarya, Bolu, Çanakkale, Eskişehir, İzmir, Manisa, Muğla, Şanlıurfa and Yalova. The bulletin said that the captured persons were under arrest warrants in their countries because they were suspects of crime organization membership, murder, drug trafficking, money laundering, assault, counterfeiting, robbery, fraud, prostitution, theft, smuggling, bribery, corruption, and falsification.

Suspects under Interpol warrants

Since he assumed office in June 2023, Yerlikaya has stepped up police operations against organized crime netted in Türkiye for some years, including foreign suspects, in addition to efforts against terrorism and illegal migration.
The code name “Cage-28” indicates that the last one was the 28th of the major police operations against national and international organized crime group members. In similar operations, German and British suspects, Eric Schroeder, and Shaun Monaghan, accused of drugs and arms smuggling were captured in İstanbul on December 27 and December 6, respectively.
Details to follow.