Two Turkish police chiefs, police officers and lawyers were among 14 people detained on Tuesday for allegedly smuggling firearms from Syria to Turkey, the OdaTV news website reported on Tuesday.
The smuggling taking place on the Syria-Turkey border came to light when a lawyer working as a courier for the smuggling ring was caught with three Kalashnikov rifles while traveling to Diyarbakır, according to OdaTV.
The lawyer reportedly said during interrogation that the firearms were being brought into the country from the Syrian town of Tel Abyad by Turkish police officers stationed there as part of an overseas deployment.
The operation took place after police determined the identity of the Turkish officers stationed in Tel Abyad, OdaTV said, adding that the suspects allegedly brought the firearms into Turkey via Şanlıurfa’s Akçakale district on the Syrian border and sold them through intermediaries within the country.