Kosovo suspect arrested for transferring money to Israel's Mossad

ANKARA, Türkiye –

Turkish police have arrested a suspect who allegedly transferred money to agents of the Israeli secret service Mossad in Turkey, the state news agency reported on Tuesday.

The suspect, identified as Liridon Rexhepi from Kosovo, entered Turkey on August 25, was detained last Friday and formally arrested on Tuesday, Anadolu news agency reported. The report said he confessed to carrying out the money transfers during interrogation.

Since January, Turkish authorities have arrested dozens of people, including private detectives, on suspicion of collecting data on individuals, mostly Palestinians living in Turkey, for Israeli intelligence.

Israel has not commented on the arrests in Turkey.

Since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been one of the harshest critics of Israeli military actions there and praises the Palestinian Hamas fighters as a liberation group.

In May, Turkey suspended all trade with Israel and also requested to participate in a genocide trial against Israel before an international court.