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Police look for CHP bigwig's brother, suspected drug baron sidekick
Arslan was taken into custody last week in a massive anti-drug operation in İstanbul. Drug baron Habib Kanat was also among the detainees. The police seized three tons of amphetamine, enough to produce nearly 200 million Captagon pills, worth nearly TL 2 billion. The police chief was, however, released by Judge Faik Saban pending trial.
The police have footage of Okay giving orders to workers at an illegal narcotics factory in Tuzla. Okay is accused of being the owner of the plant and Kanat's right-hand man. The owner of an intercity bus company is also among those suspects at large. Chemist Hüseyin Fehmi Işık, also working at the plant, was arrested in last week's operations.
Over the weekend, police staged a number of operations in İstanbul, Ankara and Gaziantep to capture suspects still at large. The police's evidence against Okay is the culmination of one-and-a-half years of the authorities monitoring his every move. Authorities suspect Okay might be planning to flee the country; with that in mind, all border checkpoints and international airports in the country have been alerted against a possible flight attempt from Okay.
The police say methamphetamine and Captagon pills seized in two manufacturing plants in Tuzla and Pendik were slated for export to the Middle East by a tour operator. Owners of the company, identified as Ş.H., Ş.H. and İ.H., also disappeared with the start of the operation, suggesting an internal leak was able to warn the drug conspirators. The police are working to identify the source of the information leak. In telephone conversations, Ş.H. was overheard telling his father and sibling: “Go on a trip immediately. Make it a long trip. I will join you when I find money. There is a quake in İstanbul.”
The gang members also had relationships with famous models, phone conversations monitored by the police revealed. Some of these individuals will be contacted to testify, police sources said.
Arslan and Ergenekon
Last week, a prosecutor objected to Arslan's release, and the investigation was forwarded to the İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court. The court ruled late on Thursday that the police chief should be arrested. Arslan told reporters that he heard about the new ruling against him from the press. He said that he was in the northwestern province of Balıkesir and was planning to return to İstanbul and presently surrender to security forces. “I did not commit any crime. I believe I was misunderstood. The truth will appear in time,” he noted.
Arslan has also been implicated in the Ergenekon case. According to the testimony of a police officer who is a secret witness in the Ergenekon trial, Osman Gürbüz, who is suspected of being an Ergenekon hit man, was involved in a clash with police in 1995. The secret witness said Gürbüz's gun was not sent to a criminal laboratory for analysis and that he was ordered to take it to Arslan instead.
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