Turkey's counterintelligence unit reportedly detained seven people who confessed to spying for Israel's Mossad, members of a broader ring of 56 operatives, according to pro-government newspaper Daily Sabah
Turkey's intelligence services exposed a cell of dozens of foreign nationals in its territory working on behalf of Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, according to the pro-government Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah.
The Turkish counterintelligence unit, working with the Istanbul police's anti-terrorism branch, detained seven people who reportedly confessed to their involvement, part of a broader ring of 56 operatives in the country who answer to nine Mossad handlers in Tel Aviv.
The cell, mostly consisting of agents of Middle Eastern origin, used fake Arabic-language websites to attract targets' interest and lead them to click on articles, in order to plant spyware on their phones.
According to the Daily Sabah report, the agents were also tasked with gathering information on foreign nationals, using methods including surveillance, hacking WiFi networks and photographing targets and tracking them electronically.
According to the Turkish intelligence service, members of the cell in Istanbul had also been sent by the Mossad to Lebanon and Syria to identify locations for drone strikes and premises used by Hezbollah.
