ANF published parts of SDF prisoner Sahab Ahmet Abdullatif’s confessions recently, where he spoke about his relationship with the police intelligence and then the MIT as well as the dirty negotiations and efforts he witnessed.

SDF prisoner Sahab Ahmet Abdullatif spoke about how he carried out money transfers from Deir ez-Zor to Turkey and then from Turkey to European and Gulf states since 2017 under supervision from the police and the intelligence service MIT, and confirmed his ties with both institutions as well as their other dirty engagements.

GETTING INVOLVED WITH THE MIT

Sahab Ahmet Abdullatif said shortly after he started to meet with the police intelligence, the MIT wanted to meet with him. He said the following on his first meeting with the MIT:

“The MIT asked me about Ebu Bekir Turki (Ilhami Bali) like the police did. Ebu Suca arranged our meeting. Me and Omer Muhammed Kadir met with MIT members in the Nevali Hotel. We didn’t sit at the cafe I sat with the police before, we met inside the hotel. There were two Arabs and two Turks. One of them was a Syrian Arab but had Turkish citizenship. He spoke Arabic and Turkish.

The MIT members first told me that they knew I was notifying police intelligence of the money transfers I handled. Then they said, ‘We know you know Ebu Bekir Turki.’ I said, ‘I asked before, I asked for a photograph of him from the men in Hajin. They sent me photographs and said the man is alive.’ They asked me how they could reach him. They asked for new proof like a photograph or a video that he was alive. That was the end of that. We met, and they took my number.”

WORKING AGAINST THE SDF

Sahab Ahmet Abdullatif also spoke about his talks with the MIT on how to form the secret cells to carry out assassinations and sabotages against SDF in Syria: “After they spoke with me, they asked Omer what he did. Omer said he could work against ‘the Yellows’, meaning the SDF. He said he could target armored vehicles and kill important persons. MIT members asked him what he wanted from them to do these tasks. Omer asked for 30 guns with silencers. They agreed to relay his demand to their higherups. Then they turned to me and said I wasn’t to tell the police intelligence that I met with them and I wasn’t to meet with them any longer. They said, ‘Your job is directly with us. We will send them a note to not bother you any more.’”

SECOND MEETING WITH THE MIT

After the meeting, Sahab Ahmet Abdullatif tried to figure out if Ebu Bekir Turki (Ilhami Bali) was alive or not, and he learned that he was: “Somebody told me his house was hit but he wasn’t at home at the time, and that he was alive still. He wanted too much money for video or photographs. So I sent word to the MIT through Omer, who at that point was more involved with MIT than Ebu Suca. According to what he told us, he was meeting with the higherups of the higher ups Ebu Suca met with. We met with MIT operatives within the same month after Omer sent word to them.”

SAME PERSON AT THE SECOND MEETING

Sahab Ahmet Abdullatif said he had his second meeting with MIT operatives in the Harran Hotel in Urfa and that the Syrian Arab man named Ahmed Gannam from the first meeting was there again. Sahab Ahmet Abdullatif said this man was the one who organized most of the explosions against the SDF and that he was an important Syrian MIT member: “They gave him Turkish papers. He was around 30 years old. He was from either Qamishlo or Heseke I’m not sure. I know he was one of the men who went to handle the exchange when ISIS let go of the consulate staff in Mosul. These were relayed to me by Omer and one of his relatives. He was involved in armed groups before he started to work for the MIT

ATTACKS AGAINST SDF APPROVED

Sahab Ahmet Abdullatif said Ahmed told him to rent an apartment for their units in the second meeting: “He said to Omer, ‘Our time is limited, we can’t meet with every one of you separately like this. Let’s buy you an apartment and make you a unit here. You will live there, you will discuss matters. It will be like your home. When something happens, we will come out and explain it. You can then tell your other friends and guide them. We can’t meet with each one of you individually.’ He asked about Ebu Bekir Turki again, and I said I could find proof that he was alive but that the guy was asking too much money. He said ‘OK’. He asked Omer how his task was going, and Omer said he was waiting for approval. He said, ‘The approval is here, you can start. Explosives and guns are ready.’ Omer said, ‘I have information on the armored vehicles important commanders use. I’ve lalmost got the cars, I could make them explode but you must take these weapons and explosives through the gate.’ MIT members arranged for the crossing into Syria, it was to be over Jarablus.”

HUGE EXPLOSION IN RAQQA

Sahab Ahmet Abdullatif said the MIT gave Omer explosives and weapons to organize the attacks against the SDF after a while and added: “Omer and Ebu Suca went to Jarablus with my car to drop these off. MIT operative Ahmed Gannam facilitated their travel there. With men arranged from there, they took the explosives to Raqqa as far as I know. There was to be a huge explosion near the bus station in Raqqa in a few days. Omer had arranged the men. They returned to Urfa. It was Ramadan. He spoke about these when he took Ebu Suca and myself to dinner. A few days later word reached us that Omer’s men had abandoned the landmine and fled. Then it was said that the landmine failed to detonate and that was why the man left it and ran. Omer was furious. The matter was relayed to the MIT, and they said ‘Bring back the landmines then we can give you new ones.’ Omer asked me for money and said it was his first job with the MIT and that he didn’t want to screw it up. I said I couldn’t give him money but I could arrange to go and deal with the landmines and the cells.”

TASK OF CROSSING ISIS MEMBERS INTO TURKEY

Sahab Ahmet Abdullatif said a few days before he was captured by the SDF on June 26, he went to Northern Syria to both take back the landmines the MIT wanted back and to handle another job the police intelligence and later the MIT asked of him: “The police asked me to cross ISIS members into Turkey. They told me to take them over the border, help issue them papers and rent apartments for them. Later Omer Muhammed Kadir and Ebu Suca made a deal with MIT and MIT told us they would open a corridor at the border for us to cross ISIS members into Turkey.” Sahab Ahmet Abdullatif asked how he would smuggle the ISIS members when he met with the MIT, “But the MIT operatives said, ‘Yes but you will first tell us where they are from. Take the foreigners here. We will tell you which path to take.’ When the police had asked us to bring ISIS members to Turkey, we also told them we needed them to open a passage through the border. They said they didn’t have enough power for that, but the MIT could allow for a border crossing. Omer was able to take some of them across. I came planning to finish my business in a few days and return to Urfa, from there I would have run things like normal but I was captured by the SDF.”