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Turkey: 5 Arrested Over Search of Syria-Bound Trucks
Turkey arrested four prosecutors and a gendarme officer on Wednesday after they tried to search Syria-bound trucks, belonging to the state intelligence agency, that they suspected of illegally carrying arms for rebels fighting Syria’s government. The news media said the arrests were part of a crackdown by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on followers of a Pennsylvania-based cleric he accuses of trying to oust him. Seventeen army officers were held last month in the same case. CNN Turk said that the five arrested Wednesday were charged with trying to “topple or incapacitate” the government. The country’s M.I.T. intelligence agency, regarded as strongly loyal to Mr. Erdogan, refused to allow the search last year of the trucks in Adana Province, in Turkey’s south. Officials in Ankara said they carried humanitarian aid. Mr. Erdogan is opposed to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, but Turkey denies it has delivered arms to Islamist militants.
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