Wednesday, April 24th 2002: Romanian Police Detain Four Turks Allegedly Involved in Drug Trafficking

Stefan Candea, Sorin Ozon, Christian Levant: "Arrest in the Sintofarm Ring"

Holding Turkish Citizen Mehmet Gundogdu in Custody, Check at MI Secretary of State Zaharia Toma

Last weekend, officers from the Brigade Combating Organized Crime and Corruption arrested four Turkish citizens. Following a house search made at one citizen's residence, several firearms were found. The four Turkish citizens who were arrested are Mehmet and Hassan Gundogdu, Yusuf Celik, and Dogan Gokyldiz. Arrest warrants have been issued for the first two persons for 30 days, and for a 5-day interval for the last two persons. The policemen have known the first man, Mehmet Gundogdu, for quite a long time as he was allegedly dealing in recuperating [money] among the Turkish citizens of ethnic Kurd origin. According to the information we have, he is the most important member of the four-person group. When the house search was conducted, the police were in fact looking for drugs and for some stockings, which had allegedly been used as hoods. According to our sources, the police house search at Gundogdu's residence was merely a pretext. The Friday [19 April] arrest could trigger a genuine earthquake in the Interior Ministry [MI]. This move might end with the removal from office of Secretary of State Zaharia Toma, who is the interior minister's [Ioan Rus] deputy.

Sintofarm Deal

Mehmet Gundogdu is a much more interesting character than he appears at first sight. He carried out several businesses in Romania. In 1994 he set up the Med-Dac SRL [limited responsibility company] company. Its headquarters was in downtown Bucharest. The company's main activity was "processing and canning vegetables and fruit." Gundogdu holds 50 percent of this company's shares, alongside a Romanian citizen. Our information says that this company has opened a package factory in the Voluntary commune. The most important thing is that Gundogdu's name is also included in the merry-go-round of companies and persons that have worked for the so-called Sintofarm Company. We would like to remind our readers that, at the onset of 2001, a huge scandal emerged, which brought up the name of the MI secretary of state, Zaharia Toma. At that time, it was regarded a quantity amounting to 50 metric tons of acetic anhydride (a precursor substance, used to manufacture heroin), which had been traded through the Sintofarm medicine factory. Ioana Toma, the secretary of state's wife was the factory's commercial director at the time. "The Sintofarm Algorithm," published in the media looked like this. The Chimprod Company in Oradea had purchased the anhydride, which later on it sold to the Sintofarm Company. The latter sold it to the Malbera SRL Company (owned by Sorin Toader), who, in turn, sold it to the Comnicol SRL Company (owned by Ion Evulescu, a well-known armament and drug trafficker). From there, the whole quantity got to several Kurdish citizens, among them Mehmet Gundogdu, who is one of the four Turkish citizens arrested last Friday. According to the reports drafted by the Romanian intelligence services, the respective anhydride was processed into heroin. Part of the resulting drug quantity went to "export," and another part was distributed on the Romanian market. The network of companies that have "carried" the anhydride is even greater. Even some companies that have ties with the Foreign Intelligence Service [SIE] are suspected of having been involved in the aforementioned deals. Zaharia Toma answered all these accusations by saying that neither he nor his wife had ever been involved in anhydride trafficking. The investigations related to this case failed to reveal sufficient details. It is possible for Mehmet Gundogdu's arrest to be an additional reason for the attempts, which have failed so far, to remove General Zaharia Toma from his position as the interior minister's deputy.

Ties With Kamal

Mehmet Gundogdu seems to be a person extremely close to the drug traffickers' circles. The Sintofarm ring is not the sole proof in this respect. The company in which Mehmet Gundogdu holds 50 percent has belonged before to a well-known drug trafficker, whose alias is Kamal. The latter is currently being held in custody and is the subject of an investigation. He is charged with drug trafficking. Kamal used several fake identities, Halis Halitoglu being one of them. Under this name, he was sentenced to an 18-year imprisonment in Turkey. In addition, Kamal's name was also connected to Hakki Demirel's murder, in 2001. The latter was a Turkish businessman, the subject of an investigation conducted by the Brigade Combating Drug Trafficking.