SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Turkish intelligence forces thwarted an assassination attempt of an Israeli businessman Yair Geller, according to Turkish media.
Daily Sabah reported that the country’s national intelligence organization (MIT) had recently uncovered a plot directed by “Iran’s intelligence agency” to assassinate Geller, an Israeli-Turkish businessman who is an Istanbul-based tycoon with investment in the machine and defense industries.
The Iranian intelligence agency had “put together a network” in Turkey to target Geller, allegedly in response to the 2020 “assassination” of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in what Tehran deemed an Israeli operation, Daily Sabah said.
Turkey’s MIT ran a monthlong surveillance operation before capturing the suspects of the network including nine members, Daily Sabah cited security sources as saying.
Daily Sabah reported that officials from MIT and Mossad hold a “secret meeting” in Ankara after the Turkish intelligence agency informed the latter about the group’s plan.
Eight suspects were detained in an operation launched by the Turkish security forces after the two agencies moved Geller to a safe house, according to Daily Sabah.
“Most were Turkish nations except S.M.B., a 44-year-old Iranian man accused of running the network,” the report said.
Another suspect, identified as Y.T., remains at large and is accused of managing the network from Iran, it added. He was accused of having ties with the Iranian intelligence agency.
Turkey has uncovered assassination attempts targeting Iranians in the country in the past years. In October, MIT discovered an espionage network controlled by Mossad and a six-person Russia espionage team planning to assassinate dissidents in Turkey, Daily Sabah reported.
