Turkish intelligence foiled Iranian cell attempting to kill Israeli businessman

Turkish intelligence foiled Iranian cell attempting to kill Israeli businessman

Turkey’s intelligence agency MIT detained group planning to assassinate Yair Geller last autumn

By Ragip Soylu  Feb 11th 2022

Middle East Eye

Turkey’s intelligence service uncovered an assassination attempt on Turkish-Israeli businessman Yair Geller and detained a number of suspects last autumn, Turkish sources familiar with the issue have told Middle East Eye.

MIT, Turkey’s national intelligence organisation, captured a team of eight people who were being led by Iranian operatives following a months-long investigation and surveillance, the sources said.

The Turkish newspaper Sabah reported on Friday that Ankara had informed Israel of the assassination attempt, which was believed to be a response to the killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in 2020 by Israeli agents.

According to the report, MIT believed that if the revenge killing took place, Turkish-Israeli relations would be further strained.

After discovering the plot, Turkish intelligence moved Geller, who owns a research and development company called CNC Advance Technologies, to a safe house in Istanbul protected by agents from Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad. They continued to follow the assassination team’s movements, Sabah reported.

According to the newspaper, the team included seven Turkish citizens, who photographed Geller’s house and place of work, and who used multiple Turkish and Iranian phone numbers to avoid any counter-intelligence surveillance.

“The Iranian intel cell’s leader was intelligence officer Yasin Taheremamkendi, who is in Iran,” Sabah said.

“Iranian citizen Saleh Moshtagh Bigohouz was the Turkey officer for the cell. He and eight others have been arrested on related charges and sent to prison.”

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