Eleven suspects have been detained in connection with the alleged theft of $30 million from two cars in a site parking lot in Bakırköy, Istanbul. The investigation, coordinated by the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and carried out by Istanbul Police Department teams, began on February 11 following a report of a large sum of money being stolen from two parked vehicles in the parking lot of a residential complex on Ekşi Nar Street, Şenlikköy Neighborhood.
Investigation Expands: More Suspects Apprehended
As part of the ongoing probe, teams from the Public Order Branch Directorate’s Theft and Pickpocketing Bureau arrested four more suspects, bringing the total number of detainees to 11. The suspects are currently undergoing processing at the police station.
Previously, seven suspects were apprehended in connection with the incident. Police initiated an investigation on February 11 after receiving a report about the theft of a substantial amount of money from two cars parked in the aforementioned site’s parking lot.
Victim’s Statement and Security Footage
Bilal Durmaz, whose statement was taken as a ‘victim,’ claimed to have kept $30 million in his two cars in the site’s parking lot for three months after closing his exchange office in Tahtakale. Security camera footage from the parking lot showed suspects arriving in a car and transferring packages from the parked vehicles to their own.
By examining security camera footage from the surrounding area, police traced the suspects’ routes of arrival and departure, identifying several individuals believed to have carried out the theft and to be connected to the incident. Simultaneous operations conducted by the police in Istanbul, Antalya, and Kocaeli led to the arrest of seven suspects.
During searches at the suspects’ addresses, authorities seized $1,670,500, 13,200 Turkish Liras, 860 illicit pills, two unlicensed pistols, and one blank-firing pistol.
Police Question Victim About Stored Funds
Police questioned Bilal Durmaz, who gave a statement as a ‘victim’ at the police station, about why he kept such a large sum of money ($30 million) in an insecure location rather than depositing it in a bank.
Durmaz responded, “Due to the nature of my business, depositing and withdrawing money from the bank is cumbersome for me, so I kept the money in the car. This money had not been needed for three months, so it remained where it was. My company’s capital in 2025 is 40 million liras. My lawyer will submit the turnover to the file.”
Accompanied by his two lawyers, Bilal Durmaz also stated that he had moved his Mestur foreign exchange office from its old address in Laleli to Tahtakale Trade Center in Tahtakale Mahallesi approximately three months ago.
Durmaz, who stated that he operates under the title of Mestur Döviz Altın Sınırlı Yetkili Müessese Anonim Şirketi and is the sole owner of the company, said, “I don’t remember the exact turnover of the exchange office. I have been doing the same business for about three years. With the move to the new address, I brought the 30 million US dollars in cash that was in the exchange office to my residence (all dollars were in $100 banknotes). For the last three months, I have kept the money in cash in a Ford Ranger with plate number 34 EOS 86 and an Audi A6 with plate number 34 BJK 747, with the money divided equally between them.”
Victim’s Father Arrested in Money Laundering Probe
It was also revealed that Bilal Durmaz is the son of Atilla Durmaz, the owner of Taç Döviz, a company whose owner was arrested on charges of ‘money laundering’ activities.
The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office had launched an investigation into this company in Laleli and its officials for crimes including “prevention of financing terrorism,” “establishing an organization to commit a crime,” “usury,” “laundering assets derived from crime,” and “violating Article 28 of Law No. 6493 on Payment and Securities Settlement Systems, Payment Services, and Electronic Money Institutions.”
As part of the investigation, based on MASAK and BDDK reports, confidential witness statements, account movements, camera recordings, and other evidence, it was determined that 60 suspects monopolized money exchanges with some countries, especially Libya, through their companies via various payment systems.
It was found that the suspects, who used illegally obtained foreign bank cards in POS devices for fictitious transactions, earned more than 1.3 billion liras in criminal proceeds from commissions on a transaction volume exceeding 47 billion liras. These funds were then transferred to companies, attempting to give the impression that they were obtained through commercial activities by issuing invoices and recording them in legal ledgers, thereby laundering the criminal proceeds.
Operations were carried out on October 14, 2025, to apprehend 60 suspects for whom arrest warrants had been issued as part of the investigation, and 48 suspects were detained. After processing at the police station, 33 of the suspects were referred to the Istanbul Courthouse on October 17 and subsequently arrested, while 15 were placed under judicial control measures.
Upon the prosecutor’s request, the magistrate judge also ordered the seizure of 255 immovable properties, 60 vehicles, 24 company shares, and the bank accounts and crypto assets of the suspects.
$30 Million Stolen from Car Trunk in Istanbul Included in “Imamoğlu Organized Crime Group” Indictment
The indictment prepared as part of the investigation into the “Imamoğlu organized crime group” also stated that the owners of Taç Döviz (Durmaz Gold) were found to have been involved in “money laundering” activities since 2018 through international money transfer systems and to have stored money belonging to many different criminal groups as custodians.
The indictment recalled that during the operation, a search of a firm-related shop located on the basement floor of the business center where the company operated, without any signage, resulted in the seizure of a total of 46,024,895 liras, 47,814,700 dollars, 52,118,30 euros, 40 gold ingots, and 150 kilograms of silver in the safes.
The indictment noted that the seized assets in no way matched the company’s declared commercial records. Furthermore, MASAK records showed that Taç Döviz’s total declared transaction volume over the last three years did not even reach 5 percent of the detected cash assets.
In the indictment, Mehmet Ş.D., an official of Taç Döviz, stated that the money was “customer deposits” and that the company provided “precious metal storage services.” However, he did not provide any records indicating who these deposits belonged to, nor invoices or receipts documenting the ownership of the gold.
The indictment stated that within this scope, an investigation was conducted into the connection between the suspects used by the organized crime group established by Ekrem İmamoğlu for money transfers and the officials of Taç Döviz. The following findings were included:
“It was understood that Taç Döviz was the custodian of the organization, and the organization distributed money obtained from this foreign exchange office during the CHP Congress process. It was understood that the money seized during the investigation and not claimed by the company officials belonged to the organized crime group established by Ekrem İmamoğlu. It was determined that the organization kept the real estate obtained with criminal proceeds in the companies of the organization’s managers, Murat Gülibrahimoğlu and Adem Soytekin, and also kept some criminal proceeds in the foreign exchange office, which was used as a custodian, to be able to use them quickly when needed. As can be seen from the entirety of the investigation file, and especially in the information note from December 2024 found on the phone of organization member Necati Özkan, it was determined that the organization was preparing for an operation to be carried out by our Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. In this context, the organization expanded its confidentiality rules, did not contact the foreign exchange offices it used as custodians, and met its cash needs through motorcycle couriers.”
