Turkey repatriates 90 wanted fugitives from 17 countries

Turkey’s Interior Ministry reported that a coordinated operation led to the capture and extradition of 90 individuals wanted on red‑notice and national warrants. The fugitives were detained in 17 countries, with the largest numbers seized in Georgia (58) and Germany (12). Smaller arrests occurred in Bulgaria, Greece, the Netherlands, Northern Cyprus and others, including Austria, Belarus, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, North Macedonia, Moldova, Thailand and Ukraine.

The suspects faced a range of serious offences such as fraud, drug trafficking, attempted murder, theft, document forgery, looting, child sexual abuse, money‑laundering, human smuggling, illegal gambling and membership in armed terrorist groups. The raids were carried out by the Police Interpol‑Europol Directorate together with the Justice Ministry, organized‑crime, intelligence, narcotics, cyber, public‑order and counter‑terrorism directorates, and relied on joint cooperation with the security services of the hosting countries.

The ministry said the operation demonstrates Turkey’s expanding capacity for international cooperation in combating organized crime and will continue to target fugitives abroad.