A Turkish family consisting of three members along with three additional Turkish individuals received a combined sentence totaling 100 years in prison for their involvement in the crime. spying for Israel’s Mossad And collecting information about their objectives, according to reports from Turkish media on Thursday.
Initially, Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) detained a group of eight individuals in April 2024 in Istanbul as part of a surveillance operation.
Included among those found guilty is Ahmet Ersin Tumlucalı, the head of an insurance firm, who has been sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison for orchestrating a team of agents operating within his network. Mossad including his spouse and stepdaughter.
As per the decision made by Istanbul’s 23rd Heavy Penal Court, his punishment has been decreased to 18 years and nine months due to "model conduct."
His spouse, Benan Tumlucali, received a sentence of 16 years and eight months, while their daughter, Dila Sultan Simsek, was handed a term of 15 years, seven months, and 15 days in incarceration.
The leftover trio of collaborators—Cem Ozcan, Ozkan Arican, and Fuzuli Simsek—were respectively sentenced to serve 15 years, seven months, and 15 days in prison.
The court stated that these people conducted espionage activities on behalf of Mossad and collected sensitive data. According to the prosecution, this team was associated with Mossad’s “online operations” division and had been assigned to perform photographic surveillance of targets located in Turkey.
According to the indictment, "the accused were involved in gathering data on individuals from foreign nations residing in the country, specifically focusing on people who had escaped their homelands because of wars, and they provided this intelligence to Mossad."
Contact with alleged agent
It was alleged that Tumlucalı had been in touch with an Israeli intelligence agent known as "Jorg," who communicated through Skype. “Jorg” reportedly met with Tumlucalı in Vienna and Munich in 2011 and 2017 respectively.
Tumlucalı apparently also had meetings with an intelligence officer called Gavin Alfron in Vienna and Frankfurt from 2017 through 2020, at which point Mossad supposedly ended his agreement.
In addition to targeting Turkish entities for Mossad, Tumlucalı is also alleged to have conducted surveillance operations in Georgia and Germany. Furthermore, he is said to have provided Israel with "certain official documents obtained from Lebanon."
Several of those under surveillance were citizens from Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and Azerbaijan.
As per the charges laid out in the indictment, he was aided by his spouse Benan, stepdaughter Dila Sultan Şimşek, and his sister-in-law Berna Çetin throughout every operation.
The document also stated that from 2014 to 2019, funds were transferred into his wife’s bank account. According to the indictment, in a single instance, Tumlucalı received an amount of 300,000 euros ($333,282).
CNN TURK Istanbul News Director Nihat Uludağ stated, "For an extended period, Mossad has attempted to function within Türkiye; however, due to their inability to dispatch their operatives directly, they locate individuals who can serve this purpose and utilize these contacts instead." spy network. "
The Tumlucalı family—Ahmet Ersin Tumlucalı from an insurance firm, along with his spouse Benan Tumlucalı and her daughter Dila Sultan Şimşek—and four others were apprehended. The MIT found out that confidential information about individuals under surveillance by the state as well as private details of certain citizens was provided to Mossad.