Turkish police detained 22 suspects in coordinated raids across 12 provinces as part of an investigation into the Kuriş criminal organization accused of fraud, money laundering and tax violations, prosecutors said Monday.
The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office said the operation targeted a suspected criminal network allegedly led by Alihan Kuriş, the leader of the Süleymancılar movement.
The investigation, conducted in coordination with the Ankara Police Department's Financial Crimes Division, involves allegations of establishing and leading a criminal organization, membership in a criminal organization, laundering proceeds of crime, defrauding public institutions and violating tax laws.
Police carried out simultaneous raids on 28 residences and 16 workplaces across 12 provinces, including Ankara, targeting 38 suspects wanted for questioning.
Of those, 22 were taken into custody, while authorities determined that 14 suspects were abroad.
Efforts are underway to locate and apprehend the remaining two suspects, prosecutors said.
The "Süleymancılar" originated as a religious movement named after the 20th-century Islamic scholar Süleyman Hilmi Tunahan, Kuriş’s great-grandfather. Authorities say the investigation is not directed against the religious movement and instead focuses on alleged financial wrongdoing by Kuriş and other figures in the group, which prosecutors have named the “Alihan Kuriş criminal syndicate.”
As part of operations targeting the same offenses, police also detained Hüseyin Uysal in the northern province of Amasya.
Authorities searched "Amasya Fazilet Pırlanta ve Kuyumculuk," a jewelry store co-owned by Uysal, and seized five $1 bills from a steel safe beneath a jewelry display counter.
The banknotes belonged to the F series, which has previously drawn scrutiny in investigations into the FETÖ.
Uysal reportedly claimed he did not remember the banknotes and said he had received them from customers. However, he did not specify when the transactions allegedly took place.
A report by Türkiye's Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) previously identified more than TL 100 billion ($2 billion) in financial movements allegedly taken abroad through the network.
The investigation remains ongoing.
