Spies have breached the security of Turkey’s naval program
ANKARA, (BM) – Nine people have been detained in Turkey on espionage charges “especially concerning Turkey’s naval programs,” BulgarianMilitary.com has learned, citing Defense News. According to the information, people connected with the Turkish Public Procurement Agency, the presidency of the defense industry, a retired and an acting colonel, a major, and three people from the private industrial sector were arrested.
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The espionage suspects were detained on the orders of investigating prosecutors from the country’s chief prosecutor’s office, investigating several espionage cases and a coup attempt against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
All nine have been charged with industrial espionage in the defense industry. According to the investigating authorities in Turkey, they (the spies – ed.) Provided information about the naval programs of the country to foreign agents, but it is not specified to which agency or government they belonged.
The detention of the nine new spies resulted from an operation that began in January this year when Turkish authorities detained people suspected of a fraud scheme. The officers found that the fraudulent transactions included some military agreements in the investigation, which provoked the investigators to continue in this direction.
Thus, at the end of March, Turkish authorities detained 26 people suspected of industrial espionage in the Turkish defense industry. Investigators say the 26 members belong to a terrorist group linked to Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Ankara has already set up a commission to investigate espionage cases and benefit the military prosecutor’s office. The commission comprises experts from the navy, the defense ministry, and the chief prosecutor’s office.
According to Turkish media reports, Ankara is preparing a law to impose harsher punishments on suspected and proven spies in the country’s defense industry. Currently, those convicted of industrial espionage are sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.
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