Turkish authorities detained 201 of 248 suspects today in an international fraud network with links to the Israeli entity.

According to Turkish media, the detainees include nine Israelis and 11 Pakistanis whose identities have been verified, in addition to individuals from other countries, including Syria, Jordan, Morocco, Lebanon, Palestine and Egypt, while judicial investigations are still ongoing.

Turkish Justice Minister Akın Gürlek had announced yesterday, Friday, the detention of 175 out of 239 suspects against whom arrest warrants had been issued, in an operation targeting an international foreign exchange “Forex” fraud network linked to the Israeli enemy.

In a statement posted on social media platforms, Gürlek said the network used companies operating under the guise of “call centers” to lure citizens from various countries into fictitious investments in Forex and cryptocurrencies.

He explained that four separate investigations conducted by the Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office this year revealed that the network was recruiting victims through advertisements on the internet and social media platforms, while offering promises of high returns.

He added that analyses by the Financial Crimes Investigation Board, together with the findings of the intelligence and police agencies and hundreds of complaints submitted by victims and collected through Interpol, showed, according to the investigations, that individuals linked to Israel constituted the majority of the companies’ owners and ultimate beneficiaries.

Gürlek noted that the network had specifically targeted countries in Europe, the Far East and Africa, and that the volume of its transactions over two years amounted to around 13 billion Turkish liras, equivalent to approximately 266 million.