The munitions list, seized during searches of suspects’ homes in last week’s operations in the cities of İstanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Kayseri, Kastamonu, Sivas, Muğla, Şırnak, Balıkesir, Uşak and Tokat, include tens of hand grenades, two flamethrowers, 590 grams of Datasheet explosives, which are rarely found in Turkey and used mainly in car bombs, 100 grams of C3 explosives, 130 grams of C4 explosives, two Kalashnikov rifles, an Egyptian-made rifle, 29 revolvers, one pen revolver, 16,332 high-caliber bullets, anti-personnel rifle ammunition, anti-aircraft gun ammunition, 11 smoke bombs made by the state agency the Turkish Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation (MKE) and two MKE-made smoke launchers.
The police also found two dry smoke boxes, four US-made gas bombs, four bombs, M4 A1 lightning flamethrower, a rocket launching fuse, 10 hunting rifles, seven pairs of binoculars, eight Kalashnikov cartridges, 114 nine-millimeter casings, 50 grams of gunpowder, four radio receivers and a large number of organizational documents, on paper and on CDs.
Nearly 40 individuals were detained last week in simultaneous police operations staged in six cities as part of the ongoing investigation into Ergenekon, a clandestine network of groups and individuals accused of plotting to overthrow the government. The new detainees include military officers, an academic with left-wing political activist background, the former head of the Police Special Operations Unit, seven retired generals and the former head of the Higher Education Board (YÖK). Ten of the detainees were released by the prosecution or the court they were taken to over the weekend, while nine were arrested. Interrogation of the remaining suspects continued on Sunday.
