Police detained 85 people across 30 Turkish provinces on Tuesday in raids targeting the Daltonlar (Daltons), an İstanbul-based crime group suspected of involvement in an arson attack on a Starlink satellite internet station in Poland.
The detainees included 35 minors, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
İstanbul prosecutors coordinated the operation against a network police accuse of recruiting people through social media and adding them to WhatsApp groups, where they received instructions to carry out attacks.
Investigators identified suspects they believed were preparing attacks and conducted raids across the country, taking those detained into police custody for questioning.
Two Turkish citizens, Ümit E., 38, and Müslüm T., 34, were taken into police custody October 12 in Nürtingen, near Stuttgart in southwestern Germany, under European arrest warrants issued at Poland’s request.
A German court on October 13 ordered that the men be kept in custody pending their transfer to Poland, where prosecutors accuse them of sabotage and working for a foreign intelligence service, Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW) announced on October 16.
The men’s suspected ties to the Daltonlar emerged in investigations by Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine and the ARD public broadcaster. Gang membership can be difficult to establish because alliances change, local offshoots emerge and others use the group’s name, ARD found.
The September 23 fire damaged the power supply and generator at a Starlink ground station in Wola Krobowska, south of Warsaw. The station resumed operations after the attack, which caused no injuries.
Starlink, operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, provides satellite internet used by Ukraine’s military to communicate and coordinate operations during Russia’s invasion, which began in February 2022.
Tomasz Siemoniak, Poland’s minister overseeing intelligence services, has blamed Russian intelligence for the attack.
Turkish investigators believe the Daltonlar is directed from Russia by its alleged leader, Beratcan Gökdemir, who uses the name “Can Dalton” and is wanted under an INTERPOL Red Notice.
Gökdemir was detained in Russia in 2024 but was not extradited despite Turkey’s requests.
The Daltonlar takes its name from the Dalton brothers in the “Lucky Luke” comics. The group is among the youth-dominated criminal networks that recruit through social media and publicize weapons and attacks online, with activities extending from Turkey into Europe.
Turkish prosecutors have linked the network to murders, armed attacks, extortion and drug trafficking. An İstanbul court sentenced senior figures Bahadır Akdağ and Zafer Boyun to 12 life terms each in December 2025 in a case involving 362 defendants.
Turkey also froze assets belonging to 399 suspects in a Daltonlar investigation announced in August.
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