Turkey deports 8 Moroccans held over 'Daesh links'

ISTANBUL

Eight Moroccans held over suspected links with Daesh have been deported to their home country, Turkish police said Thursday.

The Moroccan citizens had arrived at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport from Casablanca late Tuesday.

Istanbul police detained the suspects on the alleged grounds that they were linked with Daesh and were planning to enter Germany illegally.

The Moroccans, however, told police that they were in Istanbul only for tourism and also showed their booking at a hotel as proof. But after checking with the hotel, police said that the claims they made were untrue.

Police also seized a document on one of the suspects, which allegedly showed an illegal route to Germany via Istanbul, Izmir, Greece, Serbia and Hungary.