Several Israeli citizens have been arrested in Turkey on suspicion of involvement in criminal activity as part of a large-scale wave of arrests in the country.
According to Turkish media, nine Israeli citizens were arrested on suspicion of involvement in an international fraud network.
Israel's Foreign Ministry stated that it is "handling the incident and working to ensure that the rights of the Israeli citizens are protected."
Turkish Justice Minister Akin Gürlek claimed in a statement on the arrests that the fraud network was "linked to Israel."
However, most of those arrested are Turkish citizens, while the suspects also include citizens of Iran, Pakistan, Syria, Lebanon and Bangladesh, as well as Palestinian Arabs and citizens of Jordan and Egypt. According to reports, additional suspects who allegedly belonged to the same network are citizens of Thailand, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Morocco, Mexico and Argentina.
Gürlek announced that authorities had uncovered a fraud network operating in Europe, the Far East and Africa which, he said, allegedly defrauded victims of at least $266 million.
"An organized fraud network that targeted several countries was uncovered after we determined that its principal owners were linked to Israel," Gürlek wrote on X. As part of the operation, which was carried out in cooperation with Turkey's intelligence agency and Interpol, searches were conducted at 236 addresses in Istanbul and Muğla.
According to reports, victims of the network lost sums ranging from tens of thousands of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Gürlek claimed that "the network recruited victims through customer service representatives who spoke various languages."