216 held in Turkey for ‘illicit’ US money transfers

$400m was allegedly sent to people of Iranian origin living in America

Turkish police detained yesterday over 200 people in a major nationwide crackdown on illicit money transfers to individuals of Iranian-origin living in the United States.

An Istanbul court issued arrest warrants for a total of 417 suspects and have so far rounded up 216 in a nationwide operation carried out in 40 cities, the official Anadolu news agency reported. The suspects are facing charges, including criminal conspiracy and violating measures to prevent terrorism financing, Anadolu said.

There were no further details on who the suspects are.

An investigation found that from the beginning of 2017 some 2.4 billion lira ($400 million) had been transferred from Turkey to a total of 28,088 accounts abroad from several banks, it added. Those conducting the money transfers earned “commissions”, Anadolu said, citing the investigation, while the large majority of the recipients of the funds were people of Iranian origin living in the United States.