Thieves' Lay-Away Plan Foiled

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 25 April 2018)


A little jail-time seemed like a good investment...

In 2013, Mehmet Vatan, a security guard for an Istanbul-based
company working in Gaziantep, was assigned to take 7,200,000
Euros in an armored vehicle from one bank to another, together with
another security guard.  Along the way, Vatan asked his colleague
to drop off some credit cards at a bank but then Vatan took off with
the money and disappeared with the armored car.

Four months later, Vatan and his colleague, Gökhan Arnavut,
surrendered to police in Gaziantep.  They claimed in court that
they forgot the money (!) in a TIR (tractor-trailer) that picked them
up when they were hitchhiking after absconding with the loot.
The two served some time in prison and were subsequently released.

Nevertheless, Gaziantep police kept an eye on the two and determined
that the wives, siblings, parents and friends of Vatan and Arnavut
bought quite a number of houses, cars and even a jewelry store. In
an operation police took Vatan and Arnavut into custody, along with
M.V., B.A., M.Y., B.V., R.Ç., E.Ç., E.A., T.V., F.A., G.A., A.A.,
C.A.V., H.Ç. Z.S. and E.Ç.

In a search of their homes, police found 6 kilo 398 grams of gold,
2,460 Euros, $925, 3,455 TL, 12 watches, 5 POS devices, 7
unlicensed revolvers, 2 unlicensed rifles and 913 bullets.