Police apprehend Istanbul nightclub attacker, details mount

Police in Istanbul apprehended late on Jan. 16 a gunman who killed 39 people in a terror attack on the city's glamorous Reina nightclub in the Ortaköy neighborhood early on Jan. 1, as details over the course of his 16 days on the run came to light.

Istanbul Gov. Vasip Şahin and Istanbul Police Chief Mustafa Çalışkan announced on Jan. 17 that the attacker identified as Abdulkadir Masharipov and four other suspects were detained in a police operation in the Esenyurt district.

"The killer and perpetrator of this atrocious attack was apprehended in an operation conducted in the Esenyurt district tonight. The perpetrator is Abdulkadir Masharipov. His codename is Ebu Muhammed Horasani Abdulkavi. He was born in Uzbekistan in 1983. He was trained in Afghanistan and he is a well-trained terrorist who speaks four languages. It is believed that he came to our country in January 2016," Şahin said Jan. 17.

"Masharipov confessed to his crime and his fingerprints matched those found at the scene," he added.

Şahin said police units had carried out "a very serious and elaborate work" to apprehend Masharipov, detailing that a total of 2,000 police officers with special units participated in a joint operation supported by intelligence units from Konya, Hatay and İzmir provinces during which around 7,200 hours of surveillance camera footage was examined.

"During this work, operations were conducted at around 152 addresses and 50 people were detained in those operations. In the meantime, 168 foreigners were also handed over to related authorities on suspicion that they might be foreign terrorists. A total of $197,000 in cash, two guns and clips, two drones and sim cards and many other materials were also seized," Şahin said, adding that around...