UPDATE - Daesh/ISIS assassin caught in Turkey: Interior minister

UPDATES WITH PROVINCIAL SECURITY DIRECTORATE STATEMENT; ADDS DETAILS; CHANGES DECK; EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Ali Murat Alhas and Sitki Yildiz

ANKARA (AA) - An alleged assassin linked to the Daesh terror group, also known as ISIS, was arrested in northwestern Turkey, the country's interior minister said Monday.

Suleyman Soylu announced the arrest of the suspected terrorist in a Twitter post, saying the counter-terrorism operation had been successfully held in Yalova province.

Soylu congratulated the intelligence units, provincial police department and prosecutor's office involved in the arrest.

In a later statement, local police announced that a total of 14 suspects, including the alleged assassin, had been arrested in the Yalova-based operation and that eight of them had been remanded in custody.

The suspected assassin, who was identified as A.Y., is also thought to have been in charge of smuggling exposed Daesh-linked militants to and from Turkey and Europe. The statement said another suspect who had been caught was thought to be a so-called high-profile member of the terror group.

As part of the investigation launched by prosecutors in an effort to arrest suspects who were active in Syria and Iraq under the terror group's banner, security units launched simultaneous operations in Istanbul, Sakarya, Eskisehir, Mersin and Sirnak between Jan. 20 and 29.

A.Y., according to the statement, was caught while planning to flee Turkey to Iraq.

Notably, authorities confiscated firearms during the operations, as well as equipment used to make fake passports, a total of 433 fake passports and 346 fake IDs, along with numerous other documents.

It was also revealed during the operations that Daesh terrorists had extorted and seized funds from foreign businesspeople in Turkey to transfer abroad.