MADRID, July 3 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Seven people have been arrested in operations against cells of the Mossad or Israeli secret services on Turkish territory, as reported by Turkish authorities on Monday.

The Turkish National Intelligence Organization has reported that the seven detainees were part of a larger spy network of 56 individuals which were under Israeli command and communicated using disposable telephones under false identities in Spain, England, Germany, Sweden, Malaysia, Indonesia and Belgium.

The seven admitted to working for the Israeli secret services, according to information published by the Turkish newspaper ‘Daily Sabah’.

Among those arrested were an Arab-Israeli, several Turkish nationals as well as a Syrian national who collected data about targets using sophisticated techniques such as sending links with viruses to infect smartphones through fake websites with interesting Arabic news stories made up. by the spy network itself. .

The 56 agents are part of nine “networks” that each report to a Tel Aviv-based Mossad agent. The spies were sent to Lebanon or Syria to gather information and select targets which were then bombed by Israeli drones, including the Beirut building where several leaders of the Lebanese Shiite militia party, Hezbollah, lived. They also carry out espionage work on Turkish soil itself, where they follow a dissident Egyptian journalist.

Spies travel to secret Mossad facilities in Thailand to learn espionage techniques, evade counterintelligence actions, or install tracking devices in vehicles. The journey is made via a route that passes through Serbia and Dubai, whereby Turkish nationals do not need a visa to travel. Then they will return to Turkey to continue their training, test their skills and loyalty, and finally get to work.

This loyalty test consists of collecting data about “targets” such as mosques, churches, the Grand Bazaar or the Spice Bazaar in Istanbul, one of the most famous tourist destinations in the Turkish city.

One in charge of the spy network was an Arab-Israeli identified as Soliman Agbaria who oversees surveillance on public roads and photographs meetings.

Turkey has announced several operations against Israeli spies in recent years, always through ‘Daily Sabah’. Last May he announced the arrest of eleven people spying for Iranian targets for Israel and in December another seven spies were found to be spying for Palestinians.

Ankara also uncovered a Russian spy network and thwarted Iranian attempts to kill Israeli citizens on Turkish soil. It also prevented Iranian operations to kidnap Iranian dissidents living in Turkey.