ISTANBUL - A Turkish man was arrested here Monday as part of a probe into an alleged plot by suspected Al-Qaeda militants to attack Israeli cruise ships off Turkey's Mediterranean coast earlier this year, the Anatolia news agency reported. A court in Istanbul interrogated and then placed under arrest Salih Olcay, whose identity was used in a forged card held by Syrian national Louai Sakra when he was detained in August on charges of belonging to Al-Qaeda. The prosecution had asked the court to arrest Olcay on charges of "membership to an illegal organization," Anatolia said. Olcay said in his testimony he had lost his identity card two and a half years ago but did not know how, the NTV news channel reported.
The suspect also said he did not apply to the authorities for a new card and instead used his driving licence when he needed an identity document, NTV added.
When arrested in August, Sakra shouted to reporters outside the courthouse that he had prepared a tonne of explosives to attack ships carrying Israeli tourists to resorts on Turkey's Mediterranean coast.
Another Syrian, Hamed Obysi, believed to be a go-between for Al-Qaeda and its militants in Turkey, was arrested in the same operation, during which four Israeli ships carrying 3,500 tourists to the southern resort of Alanya were re-routed to Cyprus.
The Turkish police also suspect Sakra of involvement in two sets of twin suicide bombings in Istanbul in November 2003, which claimed about 60 lives and were blamed on a local cell of Al-Qaeda.