ISTANBUL
A Turkish court arrested Sunday two Turkish police officers detained earlier in Istanbul following their extradition from Bucharest on suspicion of illegally bugging the office Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan back in 2014 when he was prime minister.
Former police chief Sedat Zavar and police officer Ilker Usta were sent to Metris prison in Istanbul after their arrest orders were read to them from a court in Ankara via an audio and video information system in Istanbul's Bakirkoy courthouse.
The two policemen had been taken into custody after arriving at Istanbul airport late on Saturday.
The pair are alleged to have fled abroad to avoid being questioned as part of an operation in Turkey to dismantle the "parallel state" -- an network of bureaucrats and senior officials embedded in the country's institutions, including the judiciary and police, which the Turkish government claims are trying to undermine it.
The pair was extradited from Romania at the request of Turkey following a court ruling March 20.
Romanian authorities had kept Zavar and Usta in detention as their legal case continued in the country.
Dozens of police officers have been detained and hundreds of others reassigned across Turkey in an ongoing operation against the "parallel state."
