Carry-on Hardware Store at Atatürk Airport

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 31 July 2017)


                And this is just aisle one...

Security officials at Atatürk Airport in Istanbul encounter an
incredible spectacle when they check the carry-on baggage of
passengers.  In the first half of this year officials have confiscated
56,000 items from 28.6 million passengers.  The items included
knives and cutting implements, car parts and construction
equipment.

Specifically, security screening officials confiscated 11,795 knives
and cutting implements, 18,229 tool sets containing screwdrivers
and pliers, 2,031 scissors, 940 automobile parts - including an
exhaust pipe (!), and 542 screw and nails.


Well-stocked store in the Atatürk departure lounge.

England Via Istanbul Transit Proves Torturous

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 30 July 2017)


There will always be an England...let's not go.

Iranians Sayed Salar Mehdi Pour (29), his brother Saffer Mehdi
Pour (28) and cousin Ebrahim Fard (26) came to Istanbul on 15
June in order to go to England.  They made contact with human
trafficking facilitator Farmaz, also an Iranian, and paid him 35,000
euros.

Farmaz put the three Iranians up in a hotel in Taksim, where they
stayed for a month because, according to Farmaz, "a problem has
arisen on the border."  Farmaz then demanded another 75,000 TL
(about $20,000) from the families of the three.  Soon afterwards
Farmaz told them that the time had come to move.

The three were taken to a home in the Fikirtepe section of Kadıköy,
where they were set upon by 6-7 Afghans, who tied their hands and
feet and blindfolded them.  The Afthans then demanded 65,000 euros
from the Iranians' families and sent visual proof that they were
torturing their hostages.


Recent graduates of the Afghan Torture Academy - straight 
out of central casting (ugh!).

An uncle of the three, Elyas Momammad Khah came to Istanbul,
as did his nephew, who said that on the day of the three hostages
capture Sayed had mentioned Fikirtepe.  Police then focused their
efforts there and identified a street where Afghans lived.  When
moaning sounds were heard coming from a particular house
police stormed it, freeing the three Iranian hostages.

Afghans Farhat Eşref (20) and Zülfikar Settar (22) were taken
into custody.  The Iranians, who had been kept for 37 days and
who suffered cuts to their skin, burnings with a hot iron and
hammer blows, were turned over to their relatives.
  

Thieves' İll-gotten Vacations End in Jail

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 29 July 2017)


When they get tech-savvy they won't steal GPS cars.

In İznik district of Bursa province, 6 people blocked the path
of an Uighur Turk driver named Aılaıtı Pahatı and stole 88,000
TL (about $25,000) from him.  The suspects then took the car
from Pahatı.

The Gendarmerie determined that the car had been rented from
a dealer in İnegöl and they were able to track the car thanks to
a GPS device inside the vehicle.  Five of the suspects were located
at a nightclub and Fatih A.E., Beyto A., Güngör A., Turgut Y.
and Serdar Y. were soon apprehended while enjoying themselves
at the club.  The sixth suspect, Bayram B., was captured soon after.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 29 July 2017)


Wife, kids and nannies still enjoying Lake Abant. Perhaps 
more so...

Police looking into 27 robberies at homes in Sarıyer, Şişli and
Beşiktaş districts of Istanbul, determined that the thefts were
perpetrated by Orhan G., his brother Vedat G. and Eren A. but
the suspects dodged police successfully for three years by
changing addresses and telephone numbers.

Coincidentally, a policeman who was working on the case
was vacationing with his family last week at a 5-star hotel at
Lake Abant in Bolu.  The policemen recognized the suspects,
who happened to be staying at the hotel with their families,
called for reinforcements from Istanbul and the three were
taken into custody.

In their most recent robbery, the thieves took a safe from the
home of a businessman in Üsküdar containing $800,000 (!).
Video images of the robbers taking the businessman's luxury
car were entered into the case file as evidence.

Fed Up With Giving Directions?

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Sözcü Newspaper, 29 July 2017)


 He gets by with a little help from his friends.

Store owner Cafer Sönmez in Alaçatı, Izmir, got tired of giving
directions so he came up with an interesting remedy - he made
two life-size posters of himself pointing in opposite directions.
One 'Cafer' points to the Alaçatı city center and the other to the
port, with specific points of interest on the adjoining signs.

Explaining his situation, Cafer said that "I'm fed up with giving
directions so I made the posters of myself pointing to places in
either direction.  This way I can take care of my business inside
the store without distractions."

Breaking Bad at a Chicken Farm

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 28 July 2017)


Rıfat B. suffers from blurred vision, obviously.

Istanbul anti-narcotics police obtained information that Rıfat B.,
nicknamed 'The Heroin Doctor', who recently emerged from a
15-year prison sentence, was again producing heroin.  Police
determined that each day Rıfat left his home in Bahçelievler,
Istanbul, and travelled to Hendek district of Sakarya province,
where he left his car at a family residence and rode in another
vehicle to a nearby chicken and mushroom farm.


Resemblance to his hero is uncanny...

Police donned forest ranger uniforms in order to find Rıfat's
hideout and went into the woods each day with axes, saws and
binoculars.  Ultimately, police decided to act and picked up
Rıfat at the Çamlıca toll booths, along with three accomplices.


Not exactly chicken feed, literally or figuratively.

Simultaneously, police raided the farm in Hendek, where they
found a tunnel opening hidden under nut sacks in a building
basement.  Police had to put on gas masks in order to enter
the tunnel because of the acid smell and found heroin processing
equipment but no heroin.  They next went to the area on the farm
where chicks are raised, excavated a spot covered over with soil
and found a concrete cover, under which was 1 ton (!) of heroin.
7 suspects are currently being interrogated in jail.


      Hendek is just east of Sakarya.