ISTANBUL: Turkish police have arrested a French citizen of Turkish origin suspected of helping plan a New Year attack in Istanbul claimed by terrorists, Dogan news agency reported on Tuesday.
The suspect was arrested in Istanbul on Sunday. He was carrying a rent contract of an Istanbul apartment where the suspected attacker had taken refuge before he was detained, Dogan said, quoting the prosecutor’s office in the southwestern region of Burdur.
The man, identified as A.S., had resided in France since 2009, according to the news agency.
Turkish authorities had launched an investigation against him on January 10, it said.
An Istanbul court on Saturday ordered the formal remanding in custody of Abdulgadir Masharipov, a 34-year-old Uzbek suspected of killing 39 people in an attack at Istanbul’s Reina nightclub just 75 minutes into 2017.
He is facing several charges from “attempting to destroy the constitutional order”, “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”, to “murdering more than one person”, according to Turkish media reports.
Masharipov was detained at an Istanbul apartment block after spending more than two weeks on the run following the attack claimed by Daesh terrorists.
Of the 39 killed in the Reina attack, 27 were foreigners including citizens from Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Iraq and Morocco who had gone to the club to celebrate New Year.
