AP / September 3, 2024
ANKARA – Turkish police have arrested a suspect believed to have been transferring money to operatives from Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency in Turkey, the state-run news agency reported Tuesday.
The suspect, identified as Liridon Rexhepi from Kosovo, entered Turkey on Aug. 25, and was detained last Friday and formally arrested on Tuesday, the Anadolu Agency said. The report said he had confessed during interrogation that he conducted the money transfers.
Since January, Turkish authorities have detained dozens of people, among them private investigators, on charges of collecting data on individuals, mostly Palestinians residing in Turkey, for the Israeli intelligence.
Israel has not commented on the arrests in Turkey.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been one of the strongest critics of Israel’s military actions there and has praised Palestinian Hamas militants as a liberation group.
In May, Turkey halted all trade with Israel and has also applied to participate in a genocide case against Israel at an international court.
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A lawyer denies a Kosovo man’s alleged ties to Mossad
Zenel Zhinipotoku & LLazar Semini
AP / September 4, 2024
PRISTINA, Kosovo – A lawyer representing the family of a man from Kosovo who was arrested in Turkey for allegedly transferring money to Mossad operatives there insisted on Wednesday that the suspect is innocent and offered the family’s cooperation in the investigation.
The suspect, identified as Liridon Rexhepi, entered Turkey on Aug. 25, and was detained last Friday and formally arrested on Tuesday, the Anadolu Agency said. The report said he had confessed during interrogation that he conducted the money transfers.
Since January, Turkish authorities have detained dozens of people on charges of collecting data on individuals, mostly Palestinians residing in Turkey, for the Israeli intelligence.
Israel has not commented on the arrests in Turkey.
In the Kosovar capital of Pristina, lawyer Arianit Koci said Rexhepi’s family is “shocked by this arrest” and convinced that he has “nothing to do with these charges.”
“Both the family and Liridon are ready to fully cooperate with authorities” he told The Associated Press, adding that “due to the sensitivity of the case, for the moment there is no information that I can share with the public.”
“We are convinced that our brother is innocent because we have never been involved in the above-mentioned claims, neither we as a family nor Liridon,” Koci wrote on Facebook.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been one of the strongest critics of Israel’s military actions in the war-torn coastal enclave and has praised Palestinian Hamas militants as a liberation group.
In May, Turkey halted all trade with Israel and has also applied to participate in a genocide case against Israel at an international court.
Zenel Semini reported from Tirana, Albania
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Turkey arrests Mossad agent from Kosovo
Middle East Monitor / September 3, 2024
Turkey arrested a Mossad agent from Kosovo last week, according to security sources. The Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) arrested Kosovan citizen Liridin Rexhepi, accusing him of being a “financier for Israeli intelligence,” reported The Times of Israel. He was identified as the head of Mossad’s financial network in Turkey.
MIT had been tracking Rexhepi’s activities, including suspicious transactions in his accounts, since his entry into Turkey on 25 August. He was detained on 30 August by MIT and Istanbul Police. During interrogation, he confessed to making financial transfers through Western Union to Mossad operatives in Turkey.
Moreover, MIT alleges that Rexhepi oversaw Mossad’s financial network in Turkey, facilitating payments to informants engaged in activities such as filming with drones, conducting psychological operations against Palestinian politicians, and gathering intelligence on the situation in Syria.
“As a result of the money tracking, it was determined that the operatives in Turkey transferred the money coming from Kosovo to their subordinates in Syria via Western Union,” said MIT. “It was also determined that operatives in Turkey were paying for their resources in Syria using crypto money.”
Turkish security forces have frequently arrested suspected Israeli informants and operational networks in recent years. As relations between the two countries have deteriorated following Israel’s 2023 invasion of Gaza, Ankara has intensified its efforts to monitor and counter Israeli intelligence activities.
