Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced that 54 suspects were apprehended during the “SİBERAĞ-5” operations, targeting crimes such as illegal betting, qualified fraud, hacking, and online child obscenity across 23 provinces.
The operations, conducted by the Gendarmerie, led to the arrest of 54 suspects.
Twenty of these suspects have been detained, while judicial control and travel bans were imposed on 24 others. The investigations concerning the remaining individuals are ongoing.
Under the coordination of the Gendarmerie General Command’s Cyber Crimes Department, Provincial Gendarmerie Commands in Aydın, Adana, Aksaray, Amasya, Ankara, Antalya, Balıkesir, Istanbul, Konya, Niğde, Sakarya, Yalova, Zonguldak, Çanakkale, Mersin, Kahramanmaraş, Tekirdağ, İzmir, Kocaeli, Ağrı, Düzce, Afyonkarahisar, and Şırnak have conducted the “SİBERAĞ-5” operations.
Following the investigations by the Aydın Provincial Gendarmerie Command’s Cyber Crimes Branch, operations were carried out in Aydın, Adana, Aksaray, Amasya, Ankara, Antalya, Balıkesir, Istanbul, Konya, Niğde, Sakarya, Yalova, and Zonguldak, leading to the apprehension of 35 suspects who facilitated illegal betting and gambling through foreign-based betting and online gambling sites and were found to have defrauded citizens and gained unfair profits. Fourteen suspects were detained, and judicial control was placed on 18 individuals.
Further operations by the Ankara Provincial Gendarmerie Command’s Cyber Crimes Branch in Ankara, Adana, Antalya, Istanbul, Çanakkale, Mersin, and Kahramanmaraş led to the apprehension of six suspects who enabled paid access to personal data through online query panels. All six suspects were detained.
Operations by the Tekirdağ Provincial Gendarmerie Command’s Cyber Crimes Branch in Tekirdağ, Istanbul, İzmir, and Kocaeli led to the apprehension of six suspects who defrauded citizens by promising aid from the Ministry of Finance through social media applications, resulting in judicial controls and travel bans on all six.
Additionally, operations by Provincial Gendarmerie Commands in Afyonkarahisar, Antalya, Ağrı, Balıkesir, Düzce, Sakarya, and Şırnak led to the apprehension of seven suspects who were found storing and distributing obscene images of children and adults. Their investigations are ongoing.
During the operations, numerous computers, portable storage devices, mobile phones, SIM cards, foreign and Turkish currency were seized.