 On August 4, 2021, Brazilian police seized 1.3 tons of cocaine on a private jet owned by a company linked to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. |
A cocaine bust in Brazil on a jet owned by a Turkish company has traces to the upper echelon of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which is led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The Gulfstream IV private jet with tail number TC-GVA, which was caught at Fortaleza-Pinto Martins International Airport loaded with 24 suitcases carrying 1.3 tons of cocaine is owned by investment firm Affan Yatırım Holding A.Ş. through its subsidiary, ACM Air. The company was established on August 31, 2012 by Şeyhmus Özkan, a known oil smuggler who enjoys political cover thanks to his close ties to the Erdoğan government. According to trade registry data filed in September 2012, its capital was 500,000 Turkish lira ($275,000); yet, he managed to purchase two multimillion dollar Gulfstream jets from the government fleet.
The Turkish media, controlled by the government to a large extent, played "three monkeys" on the bust in Brazil, ignoring the news, which is indicative of government censorship through cronies planted as editors in most Turkish media outlets.
Continue reading the full article>
Abdullah Bozkurt, a Middle East Forum Writing Fellow, is a Swedish-based investigative journalist and analyst who runs the Nordic Research and Monitoring Network and is chairman of the Stockholm Center for Freedom.
