Turkey reveals photos of 15 alleged Mossad spies arrested

The alleged Mossad spies were of Arab descent and were reportedly present to spy on Palestinians living in Turkey.

 The 15 alleged Mossad spies arrested in Turkey, as revealed by Turkish media. (photo credit: Walla)
The 15 alleged Mossad spies arrested in Turkey, as revealed by Turkish media.
(photo credit: Walla)

Turkish media revealed the photos of 15 alleged Mossad spies arrested last week.

The report on Monday identified a key figure among the spies as M.A.S., who reportedly studied at Konya University.

The senior Mossad official described in the report was given the name A.Z., supposedly a Germany-based officer in charge of this alleged network.

One of the main spies, identified as A.B. by the report, allegedly collected information about what kind of facilities Turkey provides in the country for Palestinians opposed to Israel. A.B. entered Turkey in late 2015, and was reported as a missing person in June of this year, according to the report, intended to divert attention from the cell, which was already under surveillance by then, the Sabah newspaper claimed.

Other supposed agents described in this report included B.U.T., a 21-year-old German-based officer who gathered information on Palestinians in Turkey; A.J.A., a 29-year-old who transferred money and allegedly worked as an emissary for Mossad officers; N.A., 29, who wired money through Western Union; R.A.A., 46, the oldest in the network who allegedly received funds for meetings at the Israeli consulate and supposedly met with Mossad officials in Israel and Zagreb, Croatia; A.R.A., 29, who was paid in bitcoin for collecting information on Arabs in Istanbul and met with Mossad officials in Nairobi, Kenya; and others whose roles in the network were not clear.

Turkish reports claimed that the suspects were split into five cells of three people each, and were all arrested in a covert operation on October 7. Sabah claimed it was able to obtain the names of the alleged spies as well.

One of the five cells was in contact with and met with case officers from the Mossad and provided information and documents important for Israel. Information about Turkish and foreign students in Turkey was given to the Mossad in exchange for payment, according to Sabah.

The Turkish TRT Haber TV news reported that Palestinian and Syrian students were targeted by the cells, with a focus on students receiving training in the defense industry, as well as information on associations and organizations. The TRT report included video of the arrests.