Turkish Police Detained a Tajik and an Uzbek Nationals Suspected of Planning a Terrorist Attack in Istanbul on New Year's Eve

In Istanbul, police counter-terrorism team detained a Tajik and an Uzbek man suspected of planning a terrorist attack on New Year's Eve, Bomdod Agency reports citing Turkish media.

The arrest operation was carried out by law enforcement officers on December 31, but it was only disclosed now. The car of the foreign nationals was tracked down in the Basaksehir area, and then the chase began. The police had to shoot through the wheels of the car in which the suspects tried to escape.

Investigators note that the Uzbek and Tajik nationals allegedly belong to Daesh and were guided by representatives of a cell of the extremist organization operating in Afghanistan when preparing the attack.  

According to the police, a citizen of Tajikistan, known under the nom de guerre Abu Maimun, is considered to be an expert in making of explosives. He who was supposed to make an improvised explosive device which the militants were going to detonate in one of the Istanbul nightclubs on the night of December 31 to January 1, at the time when it would be crowded.

All that is known about another suspect, an Uzbek national, is that, according to a number of Turkish media, the authorities intend to extradite him to his homeland.

Natives of Central Asian countries have previously appeared in Turkish police cases related to terrorism. In 2017, also on New Year's Eve, a man broke into the Reina club in Istanbul and started shooting at the guests. Thirty-nine people became victims of the attack, for which Daesh later claimed responsibility. The authorities found the culprit, a native of Uzbekistan Abdulkadir Masharipov. In September 2020, it was reported that a court in Istanbul sentenced him to 1,368 years in prison.