ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey mentioned on Wednesday it had captured the chief of a British gang concerned in drug smuggling, unlawful gun commerce and theft in an operation in Istanbul.
Inside Minister Ali Yerlikaya mentioned Shaun Monaghan, chief of a gang working in northeast England, was being sought by an Interpol crimson discover.
Monaghan arrived in Turkey in October and the Interpol discover was printed on Tuesday, Yerlikaya mentioned. Turkish police had discovered Monaghan to be dwelling in Istanbul’s Fatih district and captured him on Wednesday, he mentioned.
Video printed by the inside ministry confirmed narcotics police arresting a person in a lodge room. Monaghan’s gang was concerned in cocaine and heroin distribution in addition to armed theft, Yerlikaya mentioned on social messaging platform X.
The operation is the newest in a sequence of busts and arrests over latest weeks focusing on worldwide organised crime rings.
Final month, Yerlikaya mentioned Turkey captured Hakan Ayik, a high fugitive wished in Australia for drug smuggling, and 36 others concerned in a global organised crime ring that has additionally been pursued by U.S. and New Zealand authorities.
Yerlikaya additionally mentioned on the weekend that police had captured Shamil Amirov, a senior determine in an organised crime group referred to as “Thieves in Law”, which operates in Russia.
