The Turkish newspaper "Sabah" revealed today that the security services have arrested an international cell for economic espionage in Istanbul, and the newspaper close to the Turkish government said that the cell was evading secrets about the country's energy sector, and the cell was led by a deputy director of an energy company in Istanbul.

The newspaper says in an investigative investigation, citing security and intelligence sources and the Prosecutor General in Istanbul, that a cell consisting of 6 individuals is led by a woman called Amal Ozturk, who is the deputy director general of a major energy company (Bosphorus Gaz Corporation) in Turkey, and all the members of the cell work in The energy sector, too.

Turkish intelligence monitored this cell for several months, and obtained dangerous data according to which the cell provided a foreign country with information through an intelligence official in the consulate of a country in Istanbul, and the cell leader also provided by e-mail a major global energy company with information about the Turkish energy sector, especially Confidential information related to Ankara's current and future strategy in this sector.

Energy prices

It became clear to the Turkish authorities that Öztürk provides the devices that communicate with it in foreign countries with information about energy import prices, the manner in which the Ankara authorities deal with countries that supply them with energy sources, in addition to Turkey's efforts to obtain energy sources at the lowest cost, and its efforts to discover oil and gas resources in Bahrain Black and medium.

According to the information reported by "Sabah" newspaper, the first information about the economic spying cell appeared on April 6, following an investigation conducted by the Prosecutor's Office in Istanbul.


By virtue of the fact that the case falls within the spy files, the Financial Crimes Directorate in Istanbul and the Anti-Terrorism Branch of the Istanbul State Directorate provided the Public Prosecution with information and documents during the course of the investigations into the cell.

The newspaper added that the Turkish investigators showed the information and documents they obtained in the e-mail and in the phones of the cell members to the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, which concluded that the content of these information and documents is a trade secret.

These leaked secrets relate to a monthly rate of the daily consumption of natural gas in Turkey, and the capacity of natural gas pipelines in the country.

Prosecution demands

The Turkish investigation authorities have requested that the members of the cell be tried on charges of divulging state secrets for the purpose of political and military espionage, and the Istanbul Public Prosecutor has demanded the issuance of varying prison terms for the accused, with a minimum of 21 years, and a maximum of life imprisonment.

The newspaper says that the dismantling of this cell for economic espionage coincides with Turkey's announcement of the recent discovery of huge resources of natural gas in the Black Sea, and the country's pursuit of other discoveries in the eastern Mediterranean region.