ISTANBUL (AP) — Prosecutors in Istanbul on Friday issued arrest warrants for dozens of soccer players and officials in relation to a betting scandal that has shaken Turkey.
Among those detained in early morning police raids were players from Turkey’s leading clubs: Mert Hakan Yandas of Fenerbahce and Metehan Baltaci of national champions Galatasaray.
The Turkish Football Federation said in October that it was investigating more than 150 referees in professional leagues for allegedly betting on soccer matches.
The probe soon expanded to include players, administrators, TV commentators and others in the sport. Last month more than 100 professional players, including 25 from the top-tier league, were given temporarily bans.
The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office issued warrants for 46 suspects on Friday. The office said Friday morning that 35 had already been detained, including the chair of Ankaraspor, Antalyaspor’s vice-chair and Adana Demirspor’s former chair.
Former referee and commentator Ahmet Cakar and current referee Zorbay Kucuk were also arrested, news agency DHA reported.
In a statement, prosecutors said Baltaci, who previously played for national youth sides, had been found to have placed bets on his own team’s games. Yandas allegedly placed his bets through someone else.
Seven people, including Cakar and Kucuk, were arrested after “suspicious financial transactions” were found in their bank accounts.
All the suspects were detained under a law to prevent disorder in sport, the statement added. The law criminalizes the manipulation of sports competitions and carries a sentence of one to three years’ imprisonment, which can be increased if the offense is connected to betting markets, involves officials or affects professional leagues.
Under world and European soccer regulations, players, referees and club officials are prohibited from betting on games at any level.
The Turkish Football Federation has vowed to clean up the sport, with president Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu saying he would protect it from “scandal, decay and corrupt relationships.”
Fenerbahce's Kerem Akturkoglu, right, fights for the ball with Galatasaray's Davinson Sanchez during a Turkish Super Lig soccer match between Fenerbahce and Galatasaray, in Istanbul, Turkey, Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The shooter who opened fire in a classroom at Virginia’s Old Dominion University on Thursday in an attack being investigated as an act of terrorism had a gun with an obliterated serial number, potentially complicating investigators’ efforts to determine how the man with a previous felony conviction obtained a firearm, according to a law enforcement official.
Investigators will have to try to re-surface the number in order to trace the gun, according to the official, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.
The FBI identified the shooter as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former Army National Guard member who pleaded guilty in 2016 to attempting to aid the Islamic State extremist group.
Jalloh, who yelled “Allahu akbar” before opening fire, was subdued and killed by ROTC students, according to FBI officials who praised the students' bravery for preventing further harm. The shooting killed an ROTC leader who was a professor of military science at ODU, and left two others hurt.
One of them, who was hospitalized in critical condition, has been upgraded to fair condition, according to Sentara Health. The other was treated and released.
Jalloh, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison in the Islamic State group case, was released from federal custody in December 2024. He was on supervised release, which is comparable to probation.
It wasn’t immediately clear why his release from prison was moved up. Inmates can get time off their sentences for a variety of reasons, but it wasn’t immediately clear if that happened in his case.
At a news conference Thursday, a reporter asked the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Norfolk field office, Dominique Evans, if there was a mention of the ongoing war in Iran. “None whatsoever,” she replied. The U.S. and Israel launched a war with Iran with missile strikes on Feb. 28.
The FBI has warned that Iranian operatives may be planning drone attacks on targets in California. Two men brought explosives to a far-right protest outside the New York mayoral mansion on Saturday. Investigators allege they were inspired by the Islamic State group. And on Thursday, a man of Lebanese origin was fatally shot after driving his vehicle into a Detroit-area synagogue in what the FBI called a “targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.”
Old Dominion University Police Chief Garrett Shelton said less than 10 minutes passed between when officers were called about a shooting in the university’s business school building and when responders determined the shooter was dead.
Lt. Col. Jimmy Delongchamp, public information officer for the U.S. Army Cadet Command at Fort Knox, Kentucky, told The Associated Press that two of the people who were shot were part of the Army ROTC at ODU. ROTC is a program where students receive a scholarship to attend college while training to become commissioned officers in the U.S. military.
The victim who died was Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, a 42-year-old from Chesapeake who leaves behind a spouse and a child, the U.S. Army Cadet Command at Old Dominion said in a social media post.
Shah attended ODU as an ROTC student, according to his biography on the university’s website, and had returned in 2022 as a leader for the program. In the Army, Shah piloted helicopters over Iraq, Afghanistan and Eastern Europe.
On Friday morning, in honor of his close friend Shah, Eddie Flack poured out a bottle of Wild Turkey on a lawn where flagpoles stand on campus across from Constant Hall. Flack, also of Chesapeake, said the two became firm friends while enrolled at ODU.
“I love you Brandon. Rest well with the creator. I love you,” Flack said as he poured out the whiskey and looked up at the sky.
“Sorry Brandon. The world needs more love,” Flack said, weeping. “We need to spread more love and not this hatred."
The shooter also had a background in military service. Jalloh, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Sierra Leone, served as a specialist with the Virginia Army National Guard from 2009 until 2015, when he was honorably discharged.
Durkin Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Michael Biesecker in Washington; Michael R. Sisak in New York City; Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee; Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee; John Raby in Cross Lanes, West Virginia; and Olivia Diaz in Richmond, Virginia, contributed.
This story has been corrected to show the AP reporter in the byline is Allen G. Breed, not Alan.
A person sits at the front door of Constant Hall, where yesterday shooting occurred on Friday, March 13, 2026 at Old Dominion Universiy in Norfolk, Va. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed).
Police are present at Constant Hall, where yesterday shooting occurred on Friday, March 13, 2026 at Old Dominion Universiy in Norfolk, Va. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed).
This photo provided by the U.S. Army shows Maj. Brandon Shah, Friday, Jan. 14, 2020, in Illesheim, Germany. (Pfc. Savannah Roy/U.S. Army/DVIDS via AP)
