The son of a former prime minister and top ruling party official has filed a criminal complaint against a mafia boss who claimed that the son was part of a major drug trafficking ring involving Venezuela and Turkey.
The complaint was filed by Erkan Yıldırım, son of Binali Yıldırım, against mob boss Sedat Peker after Peker claimed in his latest YouTube video posted on Sunday that Yıldırım traveled to the Venezuelan capital of Caracas in January and February to establish a new drug trafficking route following a raid in Colombia last year, when Colombian authorities seized 4.9 tons of cocaine headed for Turkey. Peker said measures implemented by Colombian officials forced the Turkish drug network to find a new route via Venezuela.
Peker, the head of one of Turkey’s most powerful mafia groups who was once a staunch supporter of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has since early May been setting the country’s political agenda through videos he posts on YouTube, each of which reaches over a million viewers on the first day of their release. The mafia boss, who lives in Dubai and is the subject of an outstanding warrant in Turkey, has been making shocking revelations about state-mafia relations, drug trafficking and murders implicating state officials.
Peker’s claim about Erkan Yıldırım was immediately denied by his father, Binali, who told reporters later on Sunday that Peker was lying.
He confirmed that his son went to Venezuela, not this year but in December 2020, and brought test kits and face masks to help the country fight the coronavirus pandemic.
However, statistics show the number of weekly coronavirus cases in Venezuela on average was 350 in December 2020.
Binali Yıldırım said in a later statement that his son had a special interest in seeing Venezuela and was looking for business opportunities there.