Nine Suspects Jailed in Istanbul’s $30 Million Theft Probe
Istanbul, February 18 – Nine suspects, including one minor, have been arrested in connection with the alleged theft of $30 million from two cars parked in a site parking lot in Bakırköy. The arrests followed operations conducted across three provinces: Istanbul, Antalya, and Kocaeli. The investigation, initiated by the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on February 11, has unveiled a complex web of alleged criminal activities, including links to a money laundering investigation targeting the victim’s father.
The Theft and Initial Investigation
The incident occurred on February 11 in the parking lot of a residential complex on Ekşi Nar Street in the Şenlikköy neighborhood of Bakırköy. Authorities launched an investigation after receiving a report of a substantial amount of money being stolen from two parked vehicles. Teams from the Public Order Branch Directorate’s Theft Bureau were immediately dispatched to the scene.
Bilal Durmaz, identified as the victim, stated in his testimony that he had been storing $30 million in the two vehicles in the parking lot of his residential complex for three months, following the closure of his foreign 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. Investigators meticulously reviewed security camera footage from the surrounding areas to trace the suspects’ movements and identify those involved in the theft.
Operations and Arrests
Simultaneous operations were conducted in Istanbul, Antalya, and Kocaeli, leading to the initial apprehension of seven suspects. During searches at the suspects’ addresses, authorities seized significant amounts of cash, including $1,670,500, 13,200 Turkish Lira, 860 narcotic pills, two unlicensed pistols, and one blank-firing pistol. The investigation was further deepened, resulting in the arrest of four more suspects, bringing the total number of detainees to 11.
Following their procedures at the police station, the suspects were transferred to the Bakırköy Courthouse. After providing their statements to the prosecutor, they were referred to the duty criminal judgeship of peace. The judgeship ordered the arrest of nine suspects, including one minor, and imposed judicial control measures on the remaining two suspects. Work to apprehend six additional suspects involved in the incident is reportedly ongoing. An organizational chart was also created for the suspects, whose actions are being evaluated within the scope of forming a criminal organization.
Links to Money Laundering Investigation
A significant development in the case is the revelation that the victim, Bilal Durmaz, is the son of Atilla Durmaz, the owner of Taş Döviz, a company that was previously arrested on suspicion of involvement in money laundering activities. The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office had launched an investigation into Taş Döviz and its officials for various offenses, including preventing the financing of terrorism, forming a criminal organization, 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 that investigation, MASAK (Financial Crimes Investigation Board) and BDDK (Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency) reports, confidential witness statements, account movements, camera recordings, and other evidence revealed that 60 suspects had monopolized money transfers, primarily with Libya, through various payment systems and their companies. The suspects allegedly used illegally obtained foreign bank cards in POS devices for fictitious transactions, generating over 1.3 billion Turkish Lira in criminal proceeds from commissions on a transaction volume exceeding 47 billion Turkish Lira. These funds were then allegedly transferred to companies, creating the impression of legitimate commercial activity through invoicing and legal accounting records, effectively laundering the criminal proceeds.
In October 2025, operations were conducted to apprehend 60 suspects in connection with this money laundering probe, resulting in 48 arrests. Of these, 33 suspects were arrested, and 15 were placed under judicial control. At the prosecutor’s request, the criminal judgeship of peace also ordered the seizure of 255 immovable properties, 60 vehicles, 24 company shares, and the bank accounts and crypto assets of the suspects.
Connections to “Imamoğlu Organized Crime Group” Indictment
The Taş Döviz (Durmaz Gold) company and its owners were also mentioned in the indictment concerning the “Imamoğlu Organized Crime Group.” The indictment stated that the suspects from Taş Döviz had been involved in money laundering activities since 2018 through international money transfer systems and had acted as custodians for the funds of various criminal groups. During an operation, a search of an unlabeled shop on the sub-basement floor of the business center where Taş Döviz operated, and which was linked to the company, revealed a total of 46,024,895 Turkish Lira, $47,814,700, and 52,118,030 Euros in safes, along with 40 gold ingots and 150 kilograms of silver. The indictment noted that these seized assets did not align with the company’s declared commercial records, and MASAK records indicated that Taş Döviz’s total transaction volume reported over the last three years did not even reach 5% of the detected cash assets.
In his statement, Mehmet Ş.D., an official from Taş Döviz, claimed that the money was
