Ankara: Security forces in Turkey arrested 33 people for alleged espionage for Israel's secret service agency Mossad. Turkish administration's move comes a month after it had issued a warning against those harming Palestinian militant group Hamas members inside Turkey, First Post reported.
The state-run Anadolu Agency reported that the arrestees were accused of planning attacks or abductions of foreign nationals residing in Turkey. However, it did not detail specific targets.
Meanwhile, 13 more suspects are yet to be detained. Istanbul's prosecutor's office informed us that it has issued arrest warrants for 46 individuals.
Turkish police conducted raids at 57 locations across eight locations simultaneously. This was part of an investigation run by the counter-terrorism bureau of the Istanbul prosecutor's office.
Anadolu agency reported that the arrested were allegedly aiming to identify, monitor, assault and kidnap foreign nationals living in Turkey in "international espionage" operations.
Meanwhile, on December 29, Iran hanged four people, including a woman, who were associated with Mossad. Wafa Hanare, Aram Umari, Rahman Parhaso and Nasim Namazi, who were the four found guilty, were hanged. A man was hanged two weeks ago for similar reasons.
Iran Judiciary's Mizan website reported that four members of a subversive group linked to the Zionist regime in Israel were hanged in Iran's northwestern province of West Azerbaijan. According to the report, this group acted against national security on the instructions of Mossad.