Swamp Creatures of the Drug Underworld

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 8 July 2021)

           

                                      The laundromat.

The 399-page indictment in the "Swamp Operation" drug-dealing case

has been accepted by the court.  In the indictment, it is stated that drug

baron Çetin Gören went by the codenames "Padişah, Armando and Jack",

while fellow drug baron Nejat Daş's codenames were "Patron and Abi".

Including Gören and Daş, 73 suspects are mentioned in the indictment.

Gören and his gang director Uğur Bülent Göçer went to a firing range

in Gaziantep, dressed like SWAT team members and used SWAT rifles.

Gören shared the photos taken on WhatsApp but another gang director,

Cemal Deniz Şahan, who has ties to Daş - whom Gören was at odds with -

passed the photos to authorities.  

This resulted in 9 SWAT team members being relieved of duty and 

tensions between Gören and Daş being exacerbated.  At this point, elder 

Silvanlı Mehmet (Mehmet Salih Tulpar) interceded and Şahan was 

assessed a 4.5 million TL penalty for causing problems for the 9 SWAT 

policemen.  

In the indictment, a telephone conversation transcript reflected Tulpar

addressing Gören as "the King of Europe" and Gören referring to 

Tulpar as "uncle".  The indictment asserted that this conversation 

confirmed that Gören was indeed the "King of Europe" with regard to

drug dealing. 

                        The "Padişah" (Sultan).

These findings were also included in the indictment: 

-- As of 2011, Gören, by means of his connections with fruit and 

vegetable firms, shipped more than 15 tons of cocaine from South 

America to Europe in containers of bananas and pineapples.  Gören

laundered the money by bringing it from Holland to Turkey and 

investing  in real estate and a car dealership;

-- The women of the gang played an important role, too. Daş's "baldız"

(his wife's sister) Handan Kaymaz ran "Şehnaz Döviz ve Altın Şirketi"

(a foreign exchange and gold firm) through which she funneled Daş's

laundered money to the markets;

--Gören's older sisters Selma Gören Bilici and Fadile Gören Köse 

brought 120 million Euros in cash from Brussels to Gaziantep and put

the money in two safe deposit boxes in a state-owned bank;

-- Daş's wife Hanife Daş had a 25% share in the CHS firm through

which she laundered drug money gleaned from real estate and car

sales;

-- Gören's niece Arzu Erişkin helped launder his drug money through

home rentals and airline ticket purchases;

-- Former Sultanbeyli (Istanbul) police chief Necmettin Yüksek and 

3 policemen were cited in the indictment.  In April 2020, during COVID-

19 restrictions that kept the public indoors, drug money was brought 

from Europe to Turkey in a TIR (tractor-trailor) and on Yüksek's orders,

the money was delivered to gang members by policemen İbrahim Halil

Akgül, Ahmet Korkmaz and Abdullah Kaan Karabulut;

--Goren used a 15-20 person group of his relatives as couriers, while

Daş used 37 TIR drivers and airline passengers as couriers.  Daş 

arranged for all his couriers to get visas and tickets through the "Bubu

Turism" firm, which is ostensibly owned by Merve Menga, a suspect who 

has not yet been jailed, but which is actually owned by Daş.  Menge's

husband Zülfü Menga, who is in jail, was part of the gang's team that

laundered drug money through "Şenaz Döviz ve Altın Şirketi".

 

                                              The end.