OVER 800 BUREAUCRATS DETAINED ON CORRUPTION CHARGES IN 5
YEARS

Over the course of the past five years an initiative launched by Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to uncover corruption in state agencies
has led to the arrests of 805 bureaucrats, including general managers,
deputy general managers and deputy undersecretaries in 156 operations.

Hundreds of bureaucrats were involved in corruption crimes revealed by
operations The Blue Line, The Scalpel, White Energy, Sky, The Bends
and the Patch carried out by the police, according to the 2007
activity report of the National Police Department's Anti-Smuggling and
Organized Crime Administration (KOM). Those bureaucrats who allowed
corruption or violation of procedures in return for personal favors
were sacked from their jobs.

According to KOM's activity report, 637 operations were carried out
against fuel smugglers, leading to the capture of a total of 1,298
suspects. KOM carried out 2,125 operations against smuggled tobacco
and alcohol, in which 3,166 people were arrested. In 334 raids against
smugglers of historical artifacts, 754 suspects were captured and
detained. Under operations directed at corruption and fraud, 3,336
people were arrested.

Counterfeit YTL preferred over dollar

This year 3,745 people were arrested on charges of counterfeit
activities in 2,813 operations. Most of these criminals preferred to
print fake copies of the YTL instead of US dollars, as the YTL only
recently went into circulation.

Also this year, 2,730 illegal immigrants and 481 organizers selling
them false hopes of starting a new life in foreign lands were captured
in 2007 during operations against human smuggling. The issue of human
smuggling came to public attention only recently, when 50 immigrants
drowned trying to reach Greece on a fragile boat. In 13 operations
against prostitution rings and human trafficking, 180 suspects were
captured and 106 victims were released.

There were 159 operations carried out against organized crime in 48
cities this year. Of the 2,284 suspects detained during these
operations, 1,107 were found guilty and sent to prison. In these
operations, 410 handguns, 4 long range weapons, 12,747 bullets, 14
vehicles, 12 handcuffs, 71 fake identification cards and 2,835 checks
and bonds were seized.

In 153 operations against credit card fraud, 337 suspects were
arrested. There were 421 people arrested in 149 operations against
banking fraud. Another 376 were arrested in 178 operations against
Internet fraud.

This year has been one of the most successful years against drug
traffickers, KOM's report showed. There were 10,128 operations against
narcotic gangs, resulting in the arrest of a total of 21, 933
suspects. During these raids, 12 tons of marijuana, 8.2 tons of
heroin, 29 kilograms of base morphine, 468 kilograms of opium gum, 98
kilograms of cocaine, 223 kilograms of amphetamines and 997 thousand
pills of ecstasy were seized during these operations. There were 450
operations carried out against street dealers, resulting in the
capture of 4,895 drug dealers, 259 of them being women. Of those
detained, 2,710 were found guilty and sent to prison.