Turkey has busted an operative cell controlled by Israeli intelligence that was attempting to infiltrate supply chains and spy on Palestinian targets, Turkish security sources told Middle East Eye on Friday.
In a joint operation last month, Istanbul police and Turkish intelligence arrested two individuals who had been reported missing for the past three weeks.
Security sources said the cell had been working for Israeli intelligence since 2012, running several shell companies to collect intelligence on Palestinian citizens and targets, attempting to export drone parts, and planning to establish front companies to infiltrate supply chains.
During a meeting with Israeli handlers abroad in January 2026, a Turkish citizen identified as MBD, who has since been apprehended, discussed plans to establish a series of shell companies outside Turkey.
According to the plan, unnamed products sourced from countries designated by Israeli intelligence would be shipped to final destinations also determined by Israeli handlers.
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The operation involved three legitimate companies operating in Asia: the first procured and repackaged the products; the second stored them temporarily; and the third exported the goods to companies owned by the final end users identified by Israeli intelligence.
During MBD’s final meeting with handlers last month, discussions included setting up bank accounts, designing a website, opening social media accounts for the front company, and researching potential partner firms.
The entire operation resembles Israel’s 2024 pager attack on Hezbollah, which killed more than 40 people and wounded over 1,500 members of the party and others in simultaneous explosions.
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In the pager operation, Israeli intelligence is believed to have exploited commercial supply chains, front companies, and intermediaries to insert compromised communication devices into Hezbollah’s logistics network without the end users’ knowledge.
Reports suggest that Mossad discovered Hezbollah was purchasing pagers from a Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo, and then set up a fake firm using the Gold Apollo name to supply pagers rigged with explosives, without the parent company’s knowledge.
Hezbollah purchased 5,000 of the booby-trapped pagers by September 2024, CBS reported.
Mossad allegedly established a website promoting Apollo products under the name Apollo Systems HK, even though no company by that name exists at the listed address or in Hong Kong corporate records. The website, online stores, and forum discussions were created to further deceive buyers.
The service also reportedly used BAC Consulting, based in Hungary, as an intermediary that held a licence for the devices.
However, the cell based in Turkey was also involved in other activities.
Elaborate scheme
Israeli operatives first contacted MBD in 2012, when he was running a marble company in the Turkish city of Mersin and trading internationally, inviting him to Europe for a business meeting. MBD met Israeli intelligence officers posing as company executives.
An Israeli intelligence officer, codenamed Luis, asked MBD to hire VK, a Turkish citizen of Palestinian origin who was also working with Israeli intelligence.
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Through VK, MBD expanded his commercial activities across the Middle East, establishing business ties with Palestinians holding anti-Israeli views, gathering intelligence on them and passing it to the Israelis.
His activities also included an attempt to visit Gaza and sending photographs of warehouses he was scouting there to Israeli intelligence.
To diversify the business, VK proposed entering the drone parts trade, prompting MBD to seek permission from his Israeli handlers.
The initiative aligned with Israel’s interests, and initial product samples were supplied directly by Israeli intelligence, according to Turkish security sources.
The sources added that one of the individuals to whom VK and MBD attempted to sell drones, Mohamed Zouari, was assassinated by Israeli intelligence in Tunisia in December 2016.
Polygraph tests
Over the years, MBD allegedly worked with multiple Israeli handlers and underwent polygraph tests in 2016 in an Asian country and again in August 2024 at a hotel in a European country, passing them successfully and reaching a higher operational level.
While MBD used an encrypted communication system to contact his handlers, he also purchased SIM cards, internet modems, and router devices from Turkey and other countries.
He allegedly sent Israeli intelligence photographs of labels containing passwords, serial numbers, production details and MAC addresses, Turkish security sources said.
Turkish National Intelligence and Turkish police dubbed the operation to dismantle the cell “Monitum”, meaning “warning” in Latin.