Reports in Turkey: "Israeli Mossad spy ring exposed. 11 arrested""

May 23, 2023   

Turkish media reported at noon (Tuesday) that the Turkish intelligence agency had arrested 11 members of an Israeli Mossad network that was spying on Iranian targets. According to reports, the network members had been under surveillance for a year and a half, and that they were allegedly trying to spy on a company with commercial ties to Iran, and 23 Iranian citizens residing in Turkey. According to the Turkish intelligence agency - MIT, the original cell of the spy network consisted of 15 people and 11 of its members were arrested as part of the investigation. It was also reported that a hunt is underway for two additional wanted individuals. Turkish intelligence suspects that the cell members were trained in Israel and sent to the country to establish a company that would trade with Iran. The detainees are foreign citizens who apparently worked for the Mossad. According to the report, the cell leader is Selçuk Koçkaya, who met with senior Mossad officials in a European country. The Mossad agents introduced themselves to him as Jose, Jorge, Thomas, Alfonso, and Raul. Turkish media reported that members of the spy network recorded the entry and exit records of foreign officials and their families from Turkey, eavesdropped on phone calls, monitored bank accounts and assets - and reported this to the Israeli Mossad. The Turkish newspaper Sabah reported that a kind of box with a threat sent to one of the targets the cell was following allowed Turkish intelligence to track them down.