SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday the person detained by Turkish police for selling his passport to a Syrian was not a diplomat.
Istanbul police said on Wednesday they had detained an American diplomat, identified as “D.J.K”, in Turkey last month for selling his passport to a Syrian trying to travel to Germany.
“We are aware of the detention of a U.S. citizen in Turkey. The individual is not a U.S. diplomat. We are providing appropriate consular services,” Reuters quoted a State Department official as saying.
Police added that they had video evidence of the diplomat, working at the U.S. embassy in Beirut, exchanging clothes with the Syrian at Istanbul airport before handing over the diplomatic passport, which had been identified as suspicious at passport control.
The person was found to be carrying $10,000 in an envelope, was arrested, the police said.
