UPDATE - 46 arrest warrants issued over police exam fraud

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS; EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Sertac Bulur and Serdar Acil

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 46 suspects over alleged fraud in a police academy entrance exam in 2012, according to judiciary on Friday.

The Ankara Public Prosecutor’s office said the suspects were recruited in the academy because they cheated on their exam.

The statement added that the suspects had gotten hold of the test paper ahead of the exam.

Prosecutor's office said one of the suspects was already in custody. Police have launched an operation in 24 provinces to arrest the remaining ones.

With the latest warrants, the number of identified suspects in the probe into the 2012 Police Academy Entrance Exam has risen to 269, said the statement.

- Fraud at ministry

In another investigation, the same prosecutor's office issued arrest warrants for 35 people for suspected fraud in a 2011 Turkish Ministry of Family and Social Policies entrance exam.

Thirteen of the suspects were arrested in early morning raids Friday. Police are searching for the remaining suspects in 14 provinces, said the office.

The exam fraud investigations are part of an ongoing probe against the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 250 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.