türkish links to original Turkish article
(Hürriyet Newspaper, 28 July 2024)
Nice ride! (might have been)
Police in Istanbul determined that a number of luxury cars impounded in
police lots for a long time had been quietly removed with fake documents.
It turned out that a gang, in league with some bureaucrats, had conspired
to steal the cars, which were "sold" to gang members by means of the
fake documents. Subsequently, the cars appeared in dealerships for sale
to real customers. The total value of the fraud was put at 750 million TL
(about $22.7 million) (!).
Nabbed in the police sting was O.K., the deputy chief of a debt and
bankruptcy office. Although his electronic signature was on the fake
documents he denied guilt but was jailed anyway. Next, police launched
raids in Istanbul, Diyarbakır, İzmir, Manisa, Mersin, Bilecik, Kırıkkale
and Kocaeli simultaneously on 23 July, taking 24 people, three of them
women, into custody. Seven of them were officials working in notary
offices. 14 of those taken into custody were jailed.
After four days of interrogation, the leader of the gang was identified
as Kerim A., who previously managed a parking lot (of course). Serdar Ö.,
a secretary at the courthouse, was charged with having prepared
computer printouts for the cars. 31 vehicles that the gang planned to
take from impoundment lots and sell were seized, whereas police
determined that 22 cars were successfully exfiltrated from the lots and
sold, but 18 of them were retaken by police.
Among those arrested was a shepherd (!) named H.I., in whose name
7 luxury cars were registered. During police questioning, H.I. explained
that he didn't even know the makes of the cars and just agreed to join
the gang for the money.
Shepherd H.I. admitted that he got a bit carried away.
One of the cars involved was a BMW once owned by Reza Zarrab, who
was involved in a high-level bribery scandal in Turkey about 10 years
ago and who spent time in various U.S. prisons after fleeing there.
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