Turkey’s Interior Ministry has launched an investigation into six more municipalities in connection with a claimed human smuggling scheme.
Turkish citizens wanting to migrate to Europe have reportedly been issued special state passports in exchange for a fee, allowing them visa-free travel.
News of the scandal first appeared last week after it was discovered that 43 of 45 people who had travelled to Hanover, Germany, in September to attend an environmental workshop never returned home.
The workshop was organised by the ruling party-run municipality of Yesilyurt in Turkey’s eastern Malatya province, which also reportedly arranged for those attending to be granted the special service passports.
These are reserved for public servants or others travelling on official business.
Turkish media reports said members of the group paid up to €8,000 ($9,620) each to go to Germany through the scheme.
Last week, authorities removed four people from office as part of the investigation, including the deputy governor of Malatya.
On Monday, the Interior Ministry said it had widened its investigation to include six more municipalities that may have helped to smuggle people to Europe.
They are accused of arranging special passports under the pretext that they would be used for official travel, including to take part in folk-dancing shows or other cultural programmes.
The ministry said it would suspend issuing the special state passports to those who are not public servants.
It was not immediately clear how many people may have benefitted from the alleged scheme.
