World Bulletin/News Desk

An Istanbul court on Friday released nine police officers accused of illegal wiretapping and forging official documents.

The court said the suspects would be under ‘judicial control’, which means they will not be able to travel abroad and will have to report to a local police station once a week.

An Istanbul prosecutor issued arrest warrants on Wednesday for 17 police officers in connection with an ongoing investigation into illegal wiretapping.

Eight of them were released without any charge on Thursday.

The arrests follow a December 2013 corruption probe which led to the detention of several high-profile figures, including the sons of three former government ministers and leading business figures.

All those detained in the December operation were later released. An Istanbul prosecutor dropped charges against those suspects.

Meanwhile, Onder Aytac, a Turkish journalist, was taken into custody at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport on Thursday night.

He was detained on an arrest warrant issued by an Ankara court for allegedly insulting senior officials, something which can be a criminal act in Turkey.

Aytac was later released after giving testimony to prosecutors.