Türkiye's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and police in Istanbul detained seven suspects for allegedly selling information to Israel's Mossad intelligence service, security sources said on Tuesday.
One of the suspects captured in the joint operation was identified as Hamza Turhan Ayberk, a former civil servant and a private detective.
Mossad contacted Ayberk through an operative codenamed "Victoria," said the sources on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
MIT established that he was leaking information to the Israeli intelligence service in exchange for money, they said.
He was found to have formed a team of people, including public officers, to provide information to Mossad, and was also found to have compiled information on Middle Eastern individuals and companies in Türkiye based on the instructions he received, the sources added.
Ayberk was trained by Mossad in Belgrade in 2019, and was first used by the Israeli secret service for simple jobs, the sources said.
While he used secret communication applications under the direction of Mossad, he also received payments in cryptocurrencies so that they would not be included in official records, they said.
In addition to leaking information, Ayberk also engaged in threats and surveillance activities.
Ayberk transmitted the locations of his targets to the Mossad with a tracking device he placed on their vehicles, harassed them and occasionally made threats, the sources said.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X: "7 suspects were captured in the operation KOSTEBEK-2, which was carried out simultaneously against Israeli Intelligence elements in Istanbul."
"We will never allow espionage activities to be carried out within the borders of our country. We will catch them one by one and bring them to justice," he vowed.
He said during the operation, "unlicensed guns, various amounts of drugs, an electronic device used to detect a listening device," as well as "a large number of digital materials, documents, and foreign currency" were recovered.
