Istanbul: Turkish authorities have arrested Liridon Rexhepi, the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency’s financial network in Turkey, according to a report by state media.
On August 30, Istanbul police detained Rexhepi in connection with the allegations of transferring money on behalf of Mossad during an operation, Xinhua news agency reported.
Rexhepi was formally arrested after a court hearing, during which he admitted to the charges, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
The Turkish intelligence agency, MIT, had been monitoring Rexhepi since his entry into the country on August 25.
MIT’s investigation revealed that Rexhepi managed financial operations for Mossad and transferred significant amount of money repeatedly via Western Union to field agents in Turkey.
Rexhepi was also found to have conducted drone surveillance and psychological operations targeting Palestinian politicians.
MIT discovered that Mossad was transferring funds to its field agents in Turkey, primarily from Kosovo and other Eastern European countries, according to Anadolu.
The financial tracking revealed that the funds from Kosovo were being transferred by Mossad’s field agents in Turkey to sources in Syria via Western Union and cryptocurrency.
Since January, Turkish authorities have detained dozens of people, among them private investigators, on charges of collecting data on individuals, for Israeli intelligence.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, sparked by the terror group’s slaughter of 1,200 people and kidnapping of 251 in southern Israel on October 7, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been one of the strongest critics of the Jewish state. He has also praised the Hamas terror group as a liberation group.
Turkish police arrested a suspect last week believed to have been transferring money to operatives of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, Turkish security sources said on Tuesday.
In December, the head of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency said that his organisation was prepared to target Hamas anywhere, including in Lebanon, Turkey and Qatar.
Turkey warned Israel of “serious consequences” if it tries to hunt down members of the terror group living outside Palestinian territories, including in Turkey.
Since then, Turkish authorities have detained dozens of people, among them private investigators, on charges of collecting data on individuals, mostly Palestinians residing in Turkey, for Israeli intelligence.
In January, Turkey arrested 33 individuals suspected of spying for Israel, according to the country’s Interior Minister. The suspects were arrested in eight provinces across the country in what Ankara called Operation Mole.
In February, Turkish police arrested seven suspects on suspicion of selling information to Mossad through private detectives, the state-run Anadolu news agency said. Seven more people, including a private detective, were arrested in March — also for selling information to Mossad. Another two were arrested in April.
Israel has not commented on the arrests.
In May, Turkey halted all trade with Israel, and in August, it filed a request with a UN court to join South Africa’s lawsuit accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.
Erdogan has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, called for it to be punished in international courts and criticised Western nations for backing Israel. He has compared Israel to Nazi Germany, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
Turkey and Israel normalised ties in 2022 by reappointing ambassadors following years of tensions. But those links quickly deteriorated after Hamas’s October 7 invasion.
–IANS
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