During the course of the investigation that began on Aug. 12, people have been detained, including six human traffickers and six Iranian agents. Seven of these people were arrested. As more details about the investigation continue to emerge, it has become evident that the human traffickers active in the region targeted senior bureaucrats and high-ranking military officers. Various CDs including footage showing local bureaucrats and officials with prostitutes, apparently taken in entertainment facilities located in Iğdır, were seized according to sources close to the investigation. The investigation also found that the group, working together with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) also organizes illegal entry into Turkey through the Iranian border. The human traffickers bring in women for prostitution from abroad. The prosecutors also say that during the journey, the victims are forced to wade through water for hours in the wetlands along the border. The prosecution also says most of these women are “ordered” by owners of local night clubs. Customs officials also help facilitate the trade, the prosecutor says. Most of the women are brought to Iğdır to engage in prostitution.
Evidence found during the investigation also indicates that the night club owners and other entertainment facilities in Iğdır are well-connected, usually having high-up sources inside the gendarmerie, police and local judiciary. Working together with illegal and espionage groups, night club owners have also filmed high-ranking officials and bureaucrats with prostitutes. The prosecution asserts that many of these people were blackmailed for confidential information vital to national security, such as photographs of public buildings, plans of military convoy routes, and detailed coordinate information regarding military outposts located close to the borders. Some documents obtained this way have been classified as highly confidential, sources close to the investigation say. Border smugglers usually help these individuals, the prosecution says.
The prosecution, based on findings of Turkey’s intelligence units, also suggests that Turkey’s recent economic revival has contributed to an increase in espionage activity in the country. Smuggling of goods, migrant smuggling, trafficking in people and drugs, as well as in guns and cigarettes are deeply inter-related, with most of the people performing these trades working in concert.
The seven people who were arrested in August are being accused of obtaining classified documents and selling these to third parties and establishing a gang only to serve this purpose. Intelligence units say that Iran has spent about 100 spies to the east and the southeast of Turkey.