Turkey claims to have found ‘ghost’ Mossad ring of 56 operatives, arrests seven

The Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) claims to have uncovered a “ghost” cell of 56 operatives supposedly spying on non-Turkey nationals for Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, reported the daily newspaper Daily Sabah, on Monday (July 3). The media report citing MIT has also said that seven people have confessed to working for Mossad.

MIT finds ‘ghost’ cell of Mossad

The operation was a collaborative effort between MIT and the Anti-Terrorism Branch of the Istanbul Police Department and the latter arrested seven people, “who all confessed to working for Mossad in their testimonies,” reported the Sabah, citing information it gathered.

According to the Turkish intelligence agency, the seven suspects are among the 56 “operatives” linked to a total of nine networks which are reportedly overseen by Mossad agents based in Tel Aviv.

The report also said that the communication between Mossad agents in Turkey and abroad was done with single-use devices also known as burner mobile phones owned by “fake persons” across the world.

It added that MIT also found that Mossad had “developed overcomplicated methods” and conducted various operations in Istanbul while evading Turkish intelligence.

Furthermore, the report citing MIT said that the Istanbul unit of the Israeli intelligence network was provided training and technical support remotely by the 24-year-old Indian owner of Tel Aviv-based spy software firm Cyberintelligence International Private Ltd.

Who was Israel supposedly spying on?

MIT also found Israel used Arab spies to reportedly gather “biographical” intelligence from its targets in Lebanon and Syria. According to the media report, the Israeli intelligence agency sent spies on “secret three-stop touristic trips” in Serbia, then Dubai and finally to Bangkok. In Thailand’s capital city, the spies would be trained at a “Mossad center” to “learn espionage.”

The supposed targets are said to be foreign nationals and the information was to be collected “through an online routing method, tracking vehicle movements via GPS, hacking into password-protected networks based on Wi-Fi devices and finding private locations,” reported the Sabah.

MIT also found that Mossad sent its Arab-origin spies in Istanbul to Lebanon and Syria to gather intelligence and mark locations which reportedly would be “struck by armed drones”.

According to the media report, among the targets was Hezbollah, a Shia terror outfit majorly operating in Lebanon, which is currently doing so out of a building in Beirut where the group’s senior military and other political figures live.

Previous claims by MIT

The report, on Monday, comes months after MIT claimed to have caught 11 people in Turkey spying for Mossad which also included two Turkish nationals.

Additionally, back in December, MIT arrested seven individuals for spying on Palestinians. Turkish intelligence also revealed that these suspects were assisting Mossad in conducting online defamation campaigns and making threats against Palestinians.

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