A close aide of killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi has been caught in Istanbul, police said Sunday.
The Afghan national, identified only by the codename Basim, was detained in the Atasehir district on the city’s Asian side on Wednesday, Istanbul police said.
Reports of the joint operation with Turkey’s intelligence agency said the suspect help to hide Al Baghdadi in Syria’s Idlib province after the fall of ISIS in 2019.
Al Baghdadi was killed in a raid on his Syrian hideout by US special forces in October 2019.
Turkish media published a photograph of a balding, bearded man in a light coat after the arrest and an earlier image showing a long-haired, heavily bearded man in military fatigues wielding a curved sword.
Basim was suspected of organising training for ISIS while in Syria and Iraq as well as serving on its decision-making council, the Demiroren news agency reported.
He had arrived in Turkey with a false passport and identity card, the agency said.
Turkey regularly detains suspected ISIS members believed to be planning attacks in the country.
<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html" charset="UTF-8" /></head><body><!--PSTYLE=* Labels%3aFH Label 18 Sport--><p>Beach soccer</p><!--PSTYLE=BY Byline--><p>Amith Passela</p><p /></body></html>
Disability on screen
Empire — neuromuscular disease myasthenia gravis; bipolar disorder; post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Rosewood and Transparent — heart issues
24: Legacy — PTSD;
Superstore and NCIS: New Orleans — wheelchair-bound
Taken and This Is Us — cancer
Trial & Error — cognitive disorder prosopagnosia (facial blindness and dyslexia)
Grey’s Anatomy — prosthetic leg
Scorpion — obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety
Switched at Birth — deafness
One Mississippi, Wentworth and Transparent — double mastectomy
Dragons — double amputee
Company profile
Name: Fruitful Day
Founders: Marie-Christine Luijckx, Lyla Dalal AlRawi, Lindsey Fournie
Based: Dubai, UAE
Founded: 2015
Number of employees: 30
Sector: F&B
Funding so far: Dh3 million
Future funding plans: None at present
Future markets: Saudi Arabia, potentially Kuwait and other GCC countries
