Turkish police carried out an operation in Istanbul as part of a second investigation, coordinated by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, into Mehmet Fatih Tançalan, known as “Vanlı Kara Haydar.” Foreign currency worth about 934 million Turkish lira was found hidden in two cars.
In the probe, which concerns laundering proceeds of crime, the Ankara police anti-smuggling and organized crime (KOM) unit determined that large amounts of cash belonging to Tançalan were being kept in vehicles parked in the Maslak neighborhood of Istanbul’s Sarıyer district.

In the raid, carried out at around 2 a.m. on September 26, police found 16.44 million euros and 700,000 dollars in the cars. The currency, totaling 64,700 banknotes, was seized, one suspect was detained, and the two vehicles believed to have been used in the crime were impounded.
The seized currency comprised 20,000 500-euro notes (10 million euros), 29,300 200-euro notes (5.86 million euros), 3,200 100-euro notes (320,000 euros) and 5,200 50-euro notes (260,000 euros) — 57,700 euro banknotes in total — along with 7,000 100-dollar notes (700,000 dollars).