"see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil'' - 5,000 stolen vehicles from Turkey smuggled to ISIL.

"see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil'' - 5,000 stolen vehicles from Turkey smuggled to ISIL. (Bugun)

Recent reporting has deepened on the vans and other all-terrain vehicles stolen from within Turkey and smuggled across the border to radical groups including the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

According to the Antalya Car Rental Agencies Assocition Chair Ergün Akça, intermediary individuals are renting vehicles and then taking them across the Turkey’s border town of Reyhanlı, Hatay province, into Syria and selling them to ISIL.

Previous reports from Turkish media indicated that figures from the Gendarmerie and National Police found that 2,000 vehicles stolen from Turkey, mostly pick-up trucks and minivans, have been smuggled into Syria, most likely to Jihadist extremists who mount weapons or carry fighters on them.

In an interview with Doğan News Agency, Akça’s claimed higher figures. According to the Antalya Car Rental Agencies Association chair, in Turkey close to 5,000 rental vehicles are being stolen; the figure of vehicles which went from Antalya to Syria and never came back is 200 alone – yet Akça adds that Turkey’s central province of Konya has the highest figures. He supsects that car dealers in Reyhanlı are also involved in the scheme.

The Association chair highlights that one of the methods of smuggling vehicles involving the switching of license plates. “They rent a vehicle and change its license plate and permits from an identical model vehicle they already have,” he said. He adds that the absence of chassis checks at the border makes it easier. The GPS systems of the vehicles are also being removed prior to the crossing.

Akça complains that tackling the issues of smuggling through police has been difficult as “officials state they cannot take action due to the fact that the two-day rental period of the vehicles have not expired.”

The association has taken matters to its own hand, distributing lists of intermediary individuals who rent vehicles to smuggle to ISIL. In one instance an individual named İdris U rented from Akça’s firm on the pretext of taking a trip with his English wife. After determining that the GPS of the vehicle had been removed after ten days, “a subsequent inquiry with the police found that there were a total of 40 similar complaints on the individual."  Hmmm....Them damn Aliens first teleported 15,000 fighters to Syria, now transported 5,000 vehicles.