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A police chief has been arrested for stealing assistance intended for survivors in a region of Turkey devastated by recent earthquakes, the Demirören News Agency (DHA) reported on Monday.
A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Turkey’s south on Feb. 6, which was followed by a number of aftershocks including a 7.5-magnitude temblor that jolted the region, killing more than 45,000 people in Turkey, according to the latest official figures.
According to DHA, police chief Yadigar Işık from the Tekirdağ police department was arrested for allegedly stealing relief items made available to survivors in the İslahiye district of Gaziantep, one of the provinces affected by the quakes.
Işık, the officer in charge of riot police ordered to take part in relief efforts in the district, allegedly loaded some aid items on a bus used by the government to deliver the items and brought them to his house in Tekirdağ when he returned home on Feb. 26.
Işık was initially detained upon a tip-off. Among the items found in the police chief’s house as a result of a search ordered by the Tekirdağ Public Prosecutor’s Office were generators, tents, air mattresses, sleeping bags, travel bags, boots, raincoats, dog food and electric space heaters.
After his detention Işık was referred to the prosecutor’s office, which demanded his arrest. The court, however, released him and placed him under judicial supervision. The prosecutor’s office then appealed the decision, and the officer was arrested by the court.