ISTANBUL - Turkish security forces have detained a suspect accused of working for Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, state television TRT reported on Friday. Serkan Cicek, a Turkish citizen, was arrested in Istanbul during a counter-intelligence operation carried out in cooperation with the National Intelligence Organization, the report said, citing security sources.
The suspect had been in contact with Faisal Rashid, whom Turkish security sources identified as a member of an "Israeli online operations centre". Security sources said Cicek confessed to conducting espionage activities under Rashid's direction, targeting a Palestinian activist critical of Israeli policies in the Middle East. Rashid allegedly paid Cicek $4,000 in cryptocurrency on August 1. However, after Cicek failed to gather the requested information, the contact was terminated on August 1.
Xinhua/gnews.cz-jav