Istanbul police arrested an Uzbek national who was planning terrorist attacks on synagogues and Jewish schools in Turkey and abroad.
The suspect, Abdulmalik A., reportedly a member of the ISIS terror group, was planning simultaneous attacks before being arrested in Istanbul.
The man was intercepted by security and intelligence units after they infiltrated the messaging and email networks of terrorist suspects and “deciphered the coded correspondence and encrypted dialogues to follow A.’s trail.”
The report added that the man was in Turkey legally.
Additionally, the man was allegedly chosen by ISIS because he “had no criminal record related to terrorist activities” and was, therefore, able to enter Turkey from a European country.
According to Turkish reports citing police, A. was given orders by an ISIS official to carry out the attacks on synagogues and Jewish schools in Turkey and abroad.
No detailed information regarding the timing of the planned attack had been revealed yet, and the specific targets had not been disclosed.
