Air Conditioned Ski Holiday

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 11 January 2011)

Ramazan S. went to the Antalya National Education Directorate
last week and explained that an unnamed philanthropist wanted
to replace the aging air conditioners in the local schools with
new ones. Excited officials at the Directorate directed Ramazan S.
to the Aksu District National Education Directorate, where there
was an urgent need for new air conditioners.

Ramazan S. and his supposed technical aide then visited five Aksu
district schools, accompanied by each school's principal, and
proceeded to remove 45 air conditioners. The suspects even took
air conditioners from the homes of two teachers of Pınarlı
Elementary School, Hasan Hüseyin Altındal and Mevlüt Çırpan,
who apparently hoped to get new ones for themselves from
Ramazan S.   

When no new air conditioners arrived during the following week
local officials realized they had been duped and called the police,
who then determined that the suspects had gone on a ski vacation
to Uludağ aboard a luxury minibus. The group was taken into custody
at Uludağ and brought back to Antalya. The air conditioners had been
sold on the second-hand spot market but police recovered them
all.

Ramazan S. was already being sought for robbing his grandmother
and deserting the army. Along with Ramazan S., Gökhan Ç. and
Adnan T. were arrested, while Elif S., Özge Ş., Hüseyin Ö and
Rükiye T. were released pending trial.