Rocket-head like object found in car in Turkey

KAYSERİ - Doğan News Agency

An official seizes a device which was thought to be a rocket warhead and taken under examination. DHA Photo

Turkish police have seized an object said to resemble a rocket warhead and liquid likely to be chemical that were found in a car they had stopped on a highway in the central province of Kayseri, and detained three people including a Syrian national.

The car, heading to Istanbul from the southeastern province of Mardin, was stopped by police in Kayseri on Sept 21. Officers seized a device wrapped in tinfoil under the front passenger seat, which was thought to be a rocket warhead and taken under examination.

Two Turkish citizens, one Syrian detained

Following the discovery, police detained three people, Turkish citizens A.Ç. (59), F.T. (54) and Syrian citizen A.S. (30), who were all in the car and asked for an expert team to identify the object.

Crime scene investigators and a team from the Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD) were sent to the scene.

The 19-centimeter-long device had a suspicious liquid inside and had Russian writing and numbers on it, surrounding a picture of a skull, the reports said.

A special expertise team working under the General Staff was charged with fully examining the device.

Kayseri Governor Orhan Düzgün issued a statement on Sept. 21 saying AFAD members and a team from Erciyes University Medical School carried out the initial investigation. He added that the three suspects were still in custody.