Retired naval Maj. Levent Bektaş was arrested on Friday in connection to weapons found on land owned by the İstek Foundation in İstanbul's Poyrazköy district in April. The İstek Foundation is owned by Ergenekon suspect and former İstanbul Mayor Bedrettin Dalan, who is currently at large and believed to be abroad. The weapons at the site were registered in the inventory of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), according to a report from Turkey's sole weapons manufacturer, the state-owned Turkish Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation (MKE).

Investigators cracked the code of an encrypted file on Bektaş’s computer, revealing a list of names of people who subscribe to the Agos daily, a Turkish-Armenian biweekly whose editor-in-chief, Hrant Dink, was shot dead in 2007, and names of 10 prominent representatives of minority groups to be assassinated.

So far eight members of the military, including a naval major and two non-commissioned officers, have testified to prosecutor Murat Yönder, one of the prosecutors conducting the investigation into Ergenekon. Five of them were arrested on April 25 on charges of “membership in an armed organization” and “illegal possession of arms and explosives.” Yesterday, four more members of the military arrived at the Beşiktaş courthouse to testify to the prosecutor. Three of them were released, while one was referred to a court after the prosecution demanded his arrest. The names of the military personnel who testified yesterday were not released. Members of the press were not allowed to take photos as the three soldiers were released through the back door of the courthouse.

Ten light anti-tank weapons, 20 percussion bombs, three other bombs, 250 grams of C4 explosive, 19 emergency flares, 10 hand grenades, 800 G3 bullets and a large number of cartridges for revolvers were found on the İstek Foundation land. The discovery followed the unearthing of similar underground weapons caches in January during digs based on maps found in the homes of two suspects -- former Deputy Police Chief İbrahim Şahin and Mustafa Dönmez, a lieutenant colonel who turned himself in a few days after a warrant for his arrest was issued. Dalan was in the US during this wave of detentions and discoveries, which began on Jan. 7.