Huge wine batch smuggled by Turkish diplomat seized in police raid

Turkish police have seized nearly 1,000 bottles of wine allegedly smuggled from France into Turkey by retired Ambassador Daryal Batıbay.

Istanbul / NationalTurk – Daryal Batıbay, Turkey’s current permanent represantative to the Council of Europe and a former ambassador illegally acquired around 2,000 bottles of wine.

An investigation launched in Strasbourg by Turkey’s Ethics Council confirmed the wine smuggling claims, which resulted in police raiding two separate warehouses owned by Daryal Batıbay in Turkey.

Wine Smuggling : French Wines valued more than 200k € smuggled to Turkey

Police seized a total of 937 bottles of wine and six bottles of champagne they found at both of the warehouses. The estimated market value of the seized wine bottles was around 200,000 Euros, the police declared. Batıbay avoided paying customs duties for the bottles by declaring them as ‘ household items,’ Turkish TV’s has reported.

Turkish Foreign Ministry has launched an probe into Batıbay, who was reportedly residing in Turkish Cyprus.

Daryal Batıbay had stated he was ‘surprised’ when the allegationss were first published in a Turkish daily newspaper, adding he knew nothing about the incident.

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