Turkish security authorities in Istanbul arrested 39 people suspected of belonging to the ISIS terrorist organization, and charged them with collecting financial donations for the organization under the pretext of "Zakat and charity".
This operation was carried out in a joint coordination between the Terrorism Crimes Investigation Bureau of the Public Prosecutor's Office in Istanbul and the Counter-Terrorism and Intelligence Directorates of the City Security Directorate, as part of ongoing efforts to dismantle and uncover the hidden activities of the extremist organization.
Investigations revealed that Orhan Kucuk, known by the code name Muhammad the Driver, leads a group of supporters of the organization, where he conducted meetings and religious lessons inside the headquarters of illegal associations and mosques belonging to them, aimed at collecting money and financial flows from the environment of those who sympathize with them under the guise of religious aid.
The investigations revealed that the targeted members of the organization adopted an extremist discourse based on declaring the Turkish state system and its officials as infidels on the grounds of “not ruling according to what God has revealed,” and they used those unlicensed mosques as platforms to attract and recruit new members for the benefit of extremist ideology.
Security forces launched simultaneous raids on 43 targeted locations in Istanbul following a judicial warrant issued by the public prosecutor's office to arrest 42 suspects, including the two unlicensed mosques, resulting in the arrest of 39 suspects.
During the searches, the security teams also found an unlicensed pistol, 50 rounds of ammunition, two bladed weapons, and a drone, in addition to confiscating a large number of devices and digital materials that are currently being examined and analyzed.
