59 police remanded in FETO ByLock probe

By Muhammed Enes Can

ISTANBUL (AA) – Fifty-nine police in Turkey were remanded under the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) probe on Saturday, judicial sources told Anadolu Agency.

Among the suspects are five police chiefs, three chief police officers, and 37 chief inspectors and deputies, said the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking with the media.

They were initially detained for using the terrorist organization's encrypted messaging app, ByLock.

Additionally, a pregnant police officer was released, the sources added.

The Istanbul Court of Peace ordered that the 59 be remanded for membership in a terrorist organization, putting the total number of police officers remanded in the ByLock probe at 99.

ByLock is said to have been used by members of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), which the government says was behind the July 15 defeated coup that martyred 241 people and wounded nearly 2,200 others.

The app is believed to have been cracked by Turkish security agencies before the coup, prompting the plotters to switch to the WhatsApp messaging service, but not before tens of thousands of FETO suspects had been identified.

Turkey accuses FETO, which is led by U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen, of organizing the defeated coup as well as a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.