Operations in 16 cities on Tuesday netted 43 Daesh suspects, authorities in Istanbul announced.
The Chief Prosecutor’s Office in the city where a building housing the Israeli Consulate came under a suspected Daesh attack last month, launched an investigation into a financing network for the terrorist group, prior to Tuesday’s operations in Istanbul and elsewhere.
The probe held in cooperation with the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) uncovered evidence that crypto wallets associated with Daesh were used in collecting funds for the terrorist group via Telegram channels. The investigation found out that between 2021 and 2025, around $170,000 were collected that way and funneled to Daesh members. Simultaneous raids were launched in Istanbul, Ankara, Antalya, Bilecik, Bursa, Hatay, Izmir, Kayseri, Kilis, Konya, Malatya, Mersin, Sakarya, Şanlıurfa, Trabzon and Van to capture the suspects.
The Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement that suspects posted on Telegram channels called “Muslimuun11,” “Sisters of Yusuf” and “Al-Azaim” to collect funds. The statement said the suspects were also involved in propaganda for Daesh and ran a campaign to collect cash for families of Daesh members in al-Hol camp in Syria. The camp, located near the Syrian-Iraqi border in Hassakeh province, was originally established to shelter Iraqi refugees following the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. It later fell under Daesh control in 2014 before being used to hold suspected members of the terror group and their families, alongside thousands of displaced Syrian and Iraqi civilians. In February, it was fully evacuated by the Syrian security forces after Damascus started taking control of areas controlled by the U.S.-backed terrorist group YPG in northeastern Syria.
Prosecutors said 19 crypto wallets linked to Daesh were identified, and authorities worked for six months to expose cash flow in the wallets. They added that some suspects converted U.S. dollars in the crypto wallets to Turkish lira and later transferred them to bank accounts.
