Italian authorities arrest 19 suspects for criminal association, including a Turkish mafia boss

May 22. () –

The Italian authorities have arrested this Wednesday in the framework of a large operation in collaboration with Interpol 19 suspects on charges related to criminal association, including an alleged head of the Turkish mafia, Boris Boyun, whose extradition Ankara had requested.

The arrests have been carried out in coordination with the anti-terrorist department of Milan after this was decreed by a city investigating judge, Roberto Crepaldi, as reported by the Italian television channel Rai.

Boyun, 40, was under house arrest in the town of Bagnaia, located in the province of Viterbo, for crimes related to murder, injuries, threats, participation in a criminal association and arms trafficking.

According to investigations by Italian authorities, Boyun managed to escape an organized assassination attempt alive and subsequently planned a retaliatory attack against the alleged instigator, the leader of a rival criminal gang.

The Turkish Minister of the Interior, Ali Yerlikaya, has highlighted in a message on the social network X that Boyun has 23 pending crimes in Turkey related to criminal association and also has a criminal record for murder.

The Turkish mafia boss, of Kurdish ethnicity, was arrested in 2022 in the coastal city of Rimini after Ankara issued an international arrest warrant, although the request was rejected by the Bologna court.