Turkey detains 2 IS suspects with cash, gold

ISTANBUL: Two suspected Islamic State (IS) militants have been detained in Istanbul, along with a large amount of cash, gold and silver, Istanbul police said on Wednesday.

Anti-terror teams launched simultaneous operations in several places in the city on March 16 against IS suspects who were believed to send weapons and logistic equipment to war zones and illegally transfer money to other militants both in Turkey and abroad, the police said in a press release.

Police also seized weapons, ammunition clips, bugging device detectors, hidden cameras, walkie-talkies and other devices, the press release said.

In the operations, a large amount of cash was found, including 1.3 million US dollars, 118,000 euros and other foreign currencies.

According to the Hurriyet daily, police seized 8.5 kg of gold and 25 kg of silver as well.

The two suspects were arrested on March 30 following a court hearing, according to the police press release.

Turkey has been hit by a series of suicide attacks carried out by IS militants since 2015 and the security forces have been cracking down hard on the group which is being routed in neighboring Iraq and Syria.