The Turkish Intelligence (MIT) has arrested two people for spying for the Israeli intelligence (Mossad) in an operation in Istanbul, Turkish state television “TRT Haber“ reported, quoted by BTA.
One of those arrested - Mehmet Budat Deriya - was recruited using his business connections as a cover. He came to the attention of the Mossad in 2005 with the international trade he carried out as a mining engineer, developing a marble deposit in the town of Silifre, Mersin district (southeastern Turkey). In 2012, he was visited by a representative of a fictitious Israeli company codenamed Ali Ahmed Yason, and in 2013, he made his first contacts with Mossad members after an invitation to travel to Europe, for which the business opportunity was used as a pretext.
Following Mossad directives, Deriya hired Veysel Kerimoglu, a Turkish citizen of Palestinian origin, and used his network in the Middle East to gather information on anti-Israeli Palestinians. The collected data and photos of critical warehouses in Gaza were passed directly to Israeli intelligence. It was found that Kerimoglu's salary and operating expenses were covered directly by Mossad.
Due to the importance that Israeli intelligence attaches to secrecy, both spies were subjected to a lie detector test. This happened for the first time in 2016 in an Asian country, and the second time was in 2024 - this time in a European country.
During the intelligence activities, an encrypted system was used to transmit messages. In addition, all technical data of the equipment such as a SIM card, modem and router that Deriya used were transferred to the Israeli services.
It was revealed that at the last meeting between Mossad and Deriya, held in January 2026, the Israeli services were preparing for a major operation with Deriya's participation. They envisaged penetrating the warehouses of international logistics companies and repackaging products from certain countries.
The decision to conduct an operation against the two men, who were detained for espionage, was made at the end of January 2026 as a result of the MIT's activities to track them, and the investigation is ongoing.