A Russian national was arrested Thursday over alleged plans to crash a drone into a U.S. military flight, police said.
Renat Bakiev, an alleged Daesh militant, was arrested while carried out surveillance in preparation for an attack at the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey’s Adana province, the Security Directorate of Adana police said in a statement.
The base is used by aircraft carrying out missions in Syria as part of the U.S.-led anti-Daesh coalition.
Daesh has used explosives-laden commercial aerial drones to carry out ground attacks in Iraq and Syria.
Police said Bakiev had confessed to being a member of Daesh and being in Adana to carry out an attack for the terror group.
He had been in contact with the terror group via the Telegram messaging app to raise 2,800 Turkish liras to buy an aerial drone, the statement added.
Police said Bakiev had also targeted civilians and Alevi associations in the Adana area. Alevis practice a form of Shia Islam.
The Russian was previously the subject of a charge of membership of a terrorist group by the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in the southern province of Kilis. He had also appeared in court in Tekirdag province, northwest of Istanbul, for making threats.
In June, counter-terrorism police in Adana arrested 11 Daesh suspects said to have plotted a truck bombing at Incirlik.
Turkey has been a partner in the U.S.-led coalition against Daesh, providing the coalition with access to Incirlik air base to wage strikes against the militants.
Ankara has detained more than 5,000 Daesh suspects and deported some 3,290 foreign terrorists from 95 different countries in recent years, according to Turkish officials. It has also refused entry to at least 38,269 individuals.
