Holy Book Sales for Yacht Parties and Nightclubs

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Milliyet Newspaper, 29 November 2018)



         'Hoja' Adnan S. and his sacred bait.

Calling as if they were part of the Ministry of Religious Affairs,
a gang of 35 scammers sold Korans and other religious books to
hapless citizens.  In 8 months the gang called 30,000 people and
made off with 2.7 million TL (about $600,000), sending their
'customers' blank pages instead of holy books. The gang used the
money at nightclubs and for yacht parties (!).

Last month, a citizen called police to complain that the Koran he
ordered from a caller using a number beginning with '0850', arrived at
his home as blank pieces of paper, rather than as a  Koran.  Police
were able to trace the calls to supposed call centers in the Bağcılar
and Yenibosna sections of Istanbul. 


     Prayer sessions on the birthday yacht.

Police determined that Adnan S., his girlfriend and Sabriye Ö.
organized the call centers from where citizens were called, especially
on days of religious significance such as 'kandil' and 'mevlit'.  The callers
told their prey that 10% of the proceeds would be sent to Moslems in
Arakan (Miyanmar) and Palestine.  Police arrested Adnan S., his
girlfriend, 'theologian' Mehmet Seyitoğlu and one other individual.
31 others involved with the gang were put under judicial monitoring.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs has filed a complaint against the
gang, as well.

With his 'earnings', Adnan S. held a birthday party for himself on a
luxury yacht, where most of the party-goers were workers from the
call centers.  The gang also frequented nightclubs for party outings.



Worn out after team-building nightclub sessions.