Turkey: Police chief accused of stealing earthquake relief material released

A Turkish police chief who is facing allegations of stealing relief material for earthquake victims was released today, daily Birgun reported.

Police chief Y.I. had been taken into custody after a lawsuit was filed on allegations.

In the trial's second hearing today, the witness named A.A. told the court that he was part of a team that was dispatched from the western city of Tekirdag to the Islahiye district of Antep province, the epicenter of the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey's southeast on 6 February.

He said:

"Y.I. was appointed there as the administrator of a depot where incoming relief material to be delivered to earthquake survivors was stored. We started taking out items from the depot, and carried them to the room where Y.I. was staying. The day before our return home, we loaded all the items in a bus leaving for Hatay. Then upon the suspect's instructions, we took them back to reload them in buses destined for Tekirdag. The suspect told us several times, 'You should take back things with you too, everybody does and they do it in truck loads.'"

The court issued an order for the release of the suspect.