Operation against Sarallar criminal organization in Istanbul: 19 arrests

In the statement made by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, it was stated that investigations were carried out against armed organized crime organizations based in cities, exploiting young people, using social media as a propaganda tool, and daring to harm the lives, property, peace and well-being of citizens.

In the statement, it was reported that within the scope of the investigations, 3 suspects who escaped from the vehicle that was tried to be stopped in Kadıköy on August 31, were caught with a gun and drugs, thanks to the attention of the police, in the coordination of the Istanbul Provincial Police Organized Crime Branch Directorate and the Intelligence Branch Directorate.

In the statement, it was stated that an address operating as a landscape area in Beykoz was identified during open and closed source analysis studies, and during the searches carried out with detector dogs, 1 rocket launcher gun, 3 rocket launcher propellant cartridges, 3 anti-tank rocket ammunition, 2 long-barreled weapons, 2 automatic weapons, many magazines and many cartridges for weapons, 1 stolen motorcycle, and 1 vehicle with foreign license plates that were thought to be used in the action were seized.

In the statement, it was noted that the captured criminal elements were gradually brought to the address subject to investigation and were hidden among the trees and flower pots in the area, that the suspect Yakup Kerem Saral, a member of the Sarallar profit-oriented, armed and organized crime organization, for whom a red notice had previously been issued and who was abroad as a fugitive, planned to commit a deliberate killing of the complainant Sedat Şahin, and that the seized criminal elements were transported to the container in the area 1 day before the operation to be used in this action.

In the statement, it was stated that a total of 19 suspects who participated in the action, 7 of whom were Iranian nationals and 1 of whom was a child in judicial process, were caught, and 1 gun and many cartridges were seized during the searches at their residences, and the following information was shared:

"Many photographs of guns and long-barreled weapons, photographs of drugs, correspondence contents regarding drug trafficking were seen, Yakup Kerem Saral was preparing an action against Sedat Şahin, there were reconnaissance activities regarding Sedat Şahin's pictures and invitations and organizations that Sedat Şahin would attend, and as a result of examination of the digital materials seized from the suspects, Yakup Kerem Saral would illegally smuggle the suspects who would carry out the action abroad after the action and make a large payment. "It has been understood that the 19 suspects (1 of whom is a child in judicial process) who were caught and detained were present at our Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and all of them were arrested by the Istanbul Criminal Judgeship of Peace on Duty."