Turkey Detains 22 Police Officers Suspected of Illegal Spying

At least 20 police officers, suspected of illegally wiretapping politicians, businessmen and officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, were arrested in Turkey.

MOSCOW, January 5 (Sputnik) – 22 police officers, suspected of illegally wiretapping politicians, officials and businessmen, were arrested in Turkey, Reuters reports, citing Turkey’s privately owned Dogan
News Agency.

They were arrested in raids, spanning across 13 cities in the east and south of the country.

According to other sources, 15 security officers were detained in eight cities, Turkey’s official news agency Anadolu reports, citing Gaziantep Police Department's Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime Unit. The warrants for the arrest were issued by a prosecutor in the province of Gaziantep.

The detainees are accused of illegal wiretapping, forging official documents and privacy violations, Anadolu Agency reports.

The arrests are the latest in a series of raids that began in July 2014, according to AFP. They are part of an investigation into a 2013 corruption scandal, involving Turkey’s top officials, among them Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his closes associates.

The former prime minister has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, saying Fethullah Gulen, an influential Islamic cleric, was behind the allegations. Gulen, currently residing in the US, was once Erdogan’s ally. He has become one of the main critics of the Turkish president.