Turkey: a scandal of stolen toys splashes the presidential palace

DEmployees of Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s presidential palace shelved. As the Turkish online media T24 indicates in an article spotted by International mail, six people working in the services of the Turkish presidency were recently arrested in Ankara, suspected of having stolen, over the past five years, multiple toys for children intended to be distributed during presidential visits. Three of them have been remanded in custody by the authorities for questioning.

In reality, the investigators believe that, in addition to the repeated thefts of toys, it is a whole network acting behind the back of the presidency which has been undermined. In April, the kidnappers allegedly seized a stock of toys estimated at more than 60,000 euros, before reselling them at a reasonable price to traders in the capital. The loot collected during their five years of offenses remains to be determined by the investigators.

Overwhelming CCTV footage

The thugs acted knowing in every corner the presidential palace and with a perfect knowledge of the movements of the security forces. They had notably noticed that a large part of the deposits, placed under the great private mosque of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, were never guarded. Their actions ended when CCTV footage caught them red-handed loading dozens of remote control car packages and other toys into official cars. From now on, it is before Turkish justice that they will have to answer for their actions.

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