ANKARA: In a collaborative effort between Croatian and Turkish authorities, bolstered by Interpol’s support, Turkiye played a pivotal role in the apprehension of Nenad Petrak, a Croatian drug trafficker, during the early hours of Saturday in Istanbul.
The meticulously executed Operation Cartel-2 led to the arrest of Petrak, who was on Interpol’s red notice list for his alleged involvement in ferrying narcotics from South America into Europe.
He stands accused as the mastermind behind an expansive transnational criminal network involving widespread drug trafficking operations.
Petrak’s capture unfolded in Uskudar, located on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, as part of the broader Europe-wide initiative termed Operation Adriatica.
The Croatian Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime’s report delineates Petrak’s footprint as a drug dealer operating across nine countries, a testament to the international scale of his illicit activities.
Turkish authorities had vigilantly tracked Petrak for an extended period, culminating in his apprehension during this operation.
Turkiye has intensified its anti-drug measures in recent weeks, signaling a concerted effort catalyzed further by the appointment of a new interior minister who has conducted dozens of anti-narcotics operations across the country.
This strategic push has reverberated across the region, marking a substantial impact on combating cross-border drug-related offenses.
Colin P. Clarke, director of research at The Soufan Group, thinks this is a crucial arrest against a critical node in transnational organized crime.
“So much of the international community’s efforts are focused strictly on counterterrorism, but taking down drug cartels is also essential to ensuring domestic stability,” he told Arab News.
“As we’ve seen with some of the drug trafficking groups in Europe, when these organizations grow too powerful, they can pose a significant danger to the public and the security services.”
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya took to his social media platform to affirm the nation’s commitment to eradicating domestic and international organized crime networks, denouncing them as purveyors of toxicity.
“Our resolve to rid our nation of these criminal organizations and drug peddlers remains resolute,” Yerlikaya said.
“Our relentless pursuit against drug traffickers and organized crime syndicates will escalate with unwavering determination.”
Petrak’s capture is expected to contribute to the ongoing global fight committed to dismantling drug cartels.
Last week, the ringleader of Kompanio Bello, another drug cartel, who was wanted with a red notice, was apprehended in Istanbul.
Authorities in Albania and Italy were seeking him for charges including “intentional homicide, drug trafficking, kidnapping, deprivation of liberty, forging travel documents, and (illegally) providing weapons and ammunition.”
The cartel leader Dritan Rexhepi had been put under international surveillance for a long time and entered Turkiye through Istanbul Airport with a Colombian passport under the alias Benjamin Omar Perez Garcia.
The operation was carried out through intelligence sharing with the Italian police.
Ersel Aydinli, professor at the international relations department at Bilkent University in Ankara, said a direct but unacknowledged relationship exists between transnational criminal activities and regional stability in international relations.
“When states fail to have good cooperation practices, this can lead to a potential surge in transnational illicit activities, from terrorism to organized crime. In recent decades, our region has seen high levels of human mobility, and along with this, naturally, a rise in levels of cross-border organized crime,” he told Arab News.
“As societies start to feel the effects of this, they put pressure on their governments, which in return begin cooperating more on these matters, using existing international instruments and agencies such as Interpol and Europol.”
According to Prof. Aydinli, these recent high-profile arrests indicate that states can collect valuable intelligence, share it effectively, and achieve concrete outcomes.
“They signal an end to any brief sense people might have had of a loss of control over these criminal networks and are also a signal to the criminal networks themselves that the era of relaxed business is over,” he said.
For Aydinli, regional security is always based on governments’ willingness to cooperate.
“These types of practices of cooperation are thus crucial because they serve as the foundations for larger security cooperation in the sense of being trust and confidence-building measures among the states and within the intergovernmental institutional capacities,” he said.
Turkish authorities apprehended in early July Isaac Bignan, also known as the “Black Mamba,” and Jurean Anthony Finix, a Dutch national — two key figures in the criminal organization led by Dutch drug lord Joseph Johannes Leijdekkers. They were both wanted by Interpol with a red notice.
Turkiye steps up commitment to combat cross-border drug networks
https://arab.news/j7jsm
Turkiye steps up commitment to combat cross-border drug networks
- Direct, unacknowledged relationship exists between transnational criminal activities, regional stability in international relations, analyst says
- Petrak’s capture unfolded in Uskudar, located on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, as part of the broader Europe-wide initiative termed Operation Adriatica
Israel vows ‘significant force’ if Syria govt fails to protect Druze
“Should the attacks on the Druze resume and the Syrian regime fail to prevent them, Israel will respond with significant force,” Katz said in a statement.
Israel has ramped up its support for Syria’s Druze in recent days, with Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Thursday urging the international community to “fulfil its role in protecting the minorities in Syria — especially the Druze — from the regime and its gangs of terror.”
At least 101 people have been killed in two days of sectarian clashes near Syria’s capital, most of them Druze fighters, a war monitor said in an updated toll on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Israel carried out a strike against what it called an “extremist group” preparing to attack members of the Druze community near Damascus.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strike on the town of Sahnaya sent a “stern message” to Syria’s new government.
Israel’s armed forces chief later ordered the military to prepare to strike Syrian government targets if the Druze community faced more violence.
Israel’s military said two injured Druze Syrians were evacuated from Syria on Thursday for treatment in Israel, after announcing Wednesday that three had been evacuated.
It did not specify how or where they had been injured.
In its statement on Thursday, it said they were taken for treatment to the town of Safed in northern Israel “after sustaining injuries in Syrian territory.”
“The IDF (military) is deployed in southern Syria and is prepared to prevent the entry of hostile forces into the area of Druze villages,” it added.
Weekend round of nuclear talks between US and Iran postponed
- Message online from Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al-Busaidi made the announcement in a post on the social platform X
DUBAI: Planned negotiations between Iran and the United States this weekend over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program have been postponed, Oman announced Thursday.
A message online from Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al-Busaidi made the announcement in a post on the social platform X.
“For logistical reasons we are rescheduling the US Iran meeting provisionally planned for Saturday May 3rd,” he wrote. “New dates will be announced when mutually agreed.”
Al-Busaidi, who has mediated the talks through three rounds so far, did not elaborate.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei issued a statement describing the talks as being “postponed at the request of Oman’s foreign minister.” He said Iran remain committed to reaching ”a fair and lasting agreement.”
Meanwhile, a person familiar with the US negotiators said that America “had never confirmed its participation” in a fourth round of talks in Rome. However, the person said the US expected the talks to occur “in the near future.” The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations.
Rome soon will see the Vatican begin the conclave on Wednesday to pick a new pope after the death of Pope Francis. Two other rounds of talks have been held in Muscat, the capital of Oman.
The talks seek to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the US has imposed on the Islamic Republic closing in on a half-century of enmity. The negotiations have been led by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.
Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers did limit Tehran’s program. However, Trump unilaterally withdrew from it in 2018, setting in motion years of attacks and tensions. The wider Middle East also remains on edge over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, the US continues an airstrike campaign, called “Operation Rough Rider,” that has been targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who long have been backed by Iran. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth early Thursday warned Iran over the rebels.
“Message to IRAN: We see your LETHAL support to The Houthis. We know exactly what you are doing,” he wrote. “You know very well what the US Military is capable of — and you were warned. You will pay the CONSEQUENCE at the time and place of our choosing.”
Last Saturday’s round of talks, which included experts drilling down into the details of a possible deal, also took place as an explosion rocked an Iranian port, killing at least 70 people and injuring more than 1,000 others.
Israeli settlers perform ‘epic prostration’ after storming Al-Aqsa Mosque
- Israeli settlers regularly tour Al-Aqsa under the protection of Israeli police
- 13,064 settlers entered the site in the first quarter of 2025
LONDON: Dozens of Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem on Thursday, conducting a provocative tour in front of Palestinian worshippers.
Settlers regularly tour the site under the protection of Israeli police and are often accompanied by government officials and far-right ministers.
On Thursday, they performed Talmudic rituals in front of the Dome of the Rock Mosque, chanting loudly in the presence of Palestinian worshippers, eyewitnesses told the Wafa news agency.
Some settlers performed the Talmudic ritual known as “epic prostration,” in which the worshipper bows low to the ground in a display of humility and reverence, while others raised Israeli flags.
In April, thousands of Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa compound to mark the Jewish holiday of Passover. In the same month, several Arab countries condemned a video generated by artificial intelligence that depicted the destruction of Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock mosques, which was attributed to Israeli settlers.
The Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem governorate reported that 13,064 settlers visited the site in the first quarter of 2025.
Devastated father wonders why an Israeli strike killed his 4-year-old daughter
- That afternoon, an Israeli strike hit a tent on the side of the road, killing Massa and some of the other children
- “She had a ball on her lap with a doll in her hand. Will she fight them with her football or doll?” her father said
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Massa Abed, 4, brought a rubber ball and her doll to play with friends on the street near her family’s home on Sunday. It was a mundane day in Zawaida, the central Gaza town where the Abeds returned weeks ago, with calm largely restored in the area.
But that afternoon, an Israeli strike hit a tent on the side of the road, killing Massa and some of the other children.
Her older brother, 16, grabbed Massa’s little body and rushed to the hospital on a donkey cart. When she was pronounced dead, he wailed, holding her.
Days later, Massa’s father, Samy Abed, turned the green ball in his hand, describing the incident to The Associated Press.
“She had a ball on her lap with a doll in her hand. Will she fight them with her football or doll?” he said. “She’s 4 years old. What can she do? She can’t even carry a rock.”
The Israeli army did not respond to requests for comment on the strike, and it remains unclear why the area — near the city of Deir Al-Balah — was struck or who was targeted. Israeli officials have often blamed Hamas for civilian casualties, saying the Palestinian militant group regularly operates from residential areas and hospitals and accusing it using civilians as human shields.
Since Israel resumed attacksmore than a month ago, at least 809 children have been killed, said Zaher Al-Wahidi, a spokesperson with Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Overall, the ministry says, more than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, in October 2023. Ministry officials do not differentiate between civilians and militant deaths but say that more than half the dead have been women and children. Israel says it has killed over 20,000 militants, without providing details on those deaths.
On March 18, a surprise Israeli bombardment shattered a six-week ceasefire mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt; hundreds of Palestinians were killed. Mediation efforts to restore the ceasefire have faltered, and Israel has vowed more devastation if Hamas doesn’t release the remaining hostages kidnapped in its rampage on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
That Hamas attack killed some 1,200 people and abducted 250 others. Israel says 59 hostages remain in captivity, at least 35 of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza, not allowing food, medicine, or assistance to enter the strip. The United Nations World Food Program said its stockpiles that it used to feed over 600,000 people daily are empty. Israel says the blockade’s aim is to increase pressure on Hamas to release the rest of the hostages and to disarm.
At the hospital where Massa’s brother brought her, bodies of her young playmates lay nearby — a reminder, relatives said, of children in danger as attacks continue.
Massa had the confidence and bubbly personality of a teenager, socializing and conversing with everyone, her father said as he scrolled through photos and videos where she played and posed for the cameras.
He soon turned to photos of her body at the hospital.
“We see her when we’re asleep. When we wake up, we remember her,” he said.
Majdi Abed, Massa’s uncle, says he has regular visions of her. “I was sitting right here at 7 a.m., and I felt the girl coming toward me,” he said, describing how he frequently bursts into tears upon realizing it’s not really Massa.
The family still expects her to show up at their breakfast table.
But, her father said, “her spot is empty.”
Omani, Iraqi foreign ministers hold talks in Muscat
- Discussion focused on achieving greater benefits for the people of Oman and Iraq
LONDON: Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Hamad Al-Busaidi discussed regional and international developments with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein in Muscat on Thursday.
The ministers highlighted the need for continued coordination to enhance regional security, stability and peace through dialogue, diplomacy and respect for sovereignty and international law.
They also talked about securing common interests and achieving greater benefits for the people of Oman and Iraq.
Qais Saad Al-Amri, the Iraqi ambassador to Oman, and other senior officials attended the meeting.
