In Turkey, a wanted person hid in the guise of a woman for eight years

Turkish law enforcement agencies have detained a convict who had been wanted for eight years. After escaping from prison, he drastically changed his appearance, adopted a female persona, and used his sister's identity documents.

According to media reports, this incident began in 2018. At that time, Tugrul Bashar was tried on three counts related to theft and impersonating a public official, and was sentenced to three years in prison. However, he fled before serving his sentence.

During his years as a fugitive, Bashar changed his appearance very drastically. Therefore, it became quite difficult for investigators to identify him through old photographs kept in police archives.

After standard search measures aimed at finding him based on his appearance repeatedly yielded no results, law enforcement changed its approach. Investigators began to focus more on his lifestyle, movements, habits, and other personal information rather than his appearance.

As it turned out, Bashar did not limit himself to changing his appearance. While in hiding, he adopted a feminine look and used his sister's official identity card while moving around Istanbul.

It is reported that he even presented this document as his own at police checkpoints. In this way, he tried to hide his true identity and stay out of the attention of law enforcement agencies.

However, his well-thought-out plan unexpectedly began to unravel due to purchases made using bank cards belonging to his sister. Investigators found that his sister was out of the country at the time. Therefore, transactions made through her cards raised suspicions and prompted additional checks.

Police surveillance eventually led to a location in Istanbul's Kadikoy district. Law enforcement officers raided the area and identified Bashar, who had been wanted for eight years.

This time, neither his change in appearance nor the use of another person's document helped him conceal his true identity. The police took his fingerprints and compared them with existing traces in the database.

As a result of the check, it was confirmed that the detained person was indeed Tugrul Bashar, who had been wanted since 2018.

Thus, the fingerprint check put an end to the eight-year search. This case is being recorded as an unusual incident involving a fugitive who managed to hide for a long time by changing his appearance and using another person's personal documents.