Romanian police detain Turkish citizens involved in Bucharest Old Town armed attacks

Three Turkish citizens, including the alleged coordinator of recent shootings in Bucharest's Old Town, have been detained by Romanian police while attempting to leave the country.

The three were stopped near the Nădlac border crossing, located in western Romania, after police set up several checkpoints to find them. They were in a taxi and, according to police sources, had tried to leave the country.

Prosecutors consider them part of the same network as the 26-year-old attacker, also a Turkish citizen, who fired at a terrace in Old Town earlier this month. The latter refused to talk to investigators, leaving them to posit that the six shots he fired at the club served as a warning for someone inside.

The three men were questioned for more than 15 hours, but did not cooperate with investigators. Judicial sources state that they did not in any way admit involvement in the two attacks in the Old Town. The trio will be brought before the court in the coming period, according to Digi24.

Police were alerted to the Turkish citizens after two armed attacks that took place this month.

The first attack took place in mid-August, when a man fired a shot at two bodyguards, after allegedly following them for several streets. The weapon jammed, and the individual reportedly threw the pistol away and managed to escape. Later, a witness found the weapon thrown in the trash and alerted the police, but the attacker was not found at that time.

A week later, the same man returned and fired six times at a terrace in Bucharest's Old Town. A restaurant bodyguard chased him, restrained him, and handed him over to the police in the area. After the attacker’s preventive arrest, investigators also discovered an accomplice, the one who allegedly handed him the backpack with the weapon. With the three recently detained Turkish citizens, the number of suspects targeted in the case has reached five.

Gun violence is very rare in Romania due to the tough legislation on the ownership of weapons.

(Photo source: Vlad Ispas/Dreamstime.com)