Suspected Daesh hitman arrested in Turkey's Yalova province

An alleged assassin linked to the Daesh terror group has been arrested in northwestern Turkey, the country's interior minister has said.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu on Monday announced the arrest of the suspected terrorist in a Twitter post, saying the counterterrorism operation had been successfully held in Yalova province.

Soylu congratulated the intelligence units, provincial police department and prosecutor's office involved in the arrest.

In a later statement, local police announced that a total of 14 suspects, including the alleged assassin, had been arrested in the Yalova-based operation and that eight of them had been remanded in custody.

READ MORE: Turkey arrests dozens of Daesh suspects in large-scale operation

The suspected assassin, who was identified as AY, is also thought to have been in charge of smuggling exposed Daesh-linked militants to and from Turkey and Europe. 

The statement said another suspect who had been caught was thought to be a so-called high-profile member of the terror group.

As part of the investigation launched by prosecutors in an effort to arrest suspects who were active in Syria and Iraq under the terror group's banner, security units launched simultaneous operations in Istanbul, Sakarya, Eskisehir, Mersin and Sirnak between January 20 and 29.

AY, according to the statement, was caught while planning to flee from Turkey to Iraq.

Notably, authorities confiscated firearms during the operations, as well as equipment used to make fake passports, a total of 433 fake passports and 346 fake IDs, along with numerous other documents.

It was also revealed during the operations that Daesh terrorists had extorted and seized funds from foreign businesspeople in Turkey to transfer abroad.

READ MORE: Turkey captures senior member of Daesh terrorist organization