He also added that the Uzbekistan native Abdulgadir Masharipov, who shot 39 people dead at an Istanbul nightclub in the small hours of the New Year, entered the country illegally. He was trained in Afghanistan and his fingerprints match those of the attacker.
"He has already pleaded guilty, the fingerprints found at the crime scene match," Sahin told reporters, saying that Masharipov entered Turkey in January 2016.
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) January 17, 2017
The governor added that during the police operation aimed at detaining the gunman, Turkey's police force had detained 50 people, made searches at 152 places and studied some 7,200 hours of the CCTV footage.
According to the governor, there is a high possibility that Masharipov has links to terrorist organizations.
Reina nightclub attacker Abdulgadir Masharipov was captured by the security forces late Monday in the Esenyurt district of Istanbul, Turkish media reported earlier in the day.
VIDEO: Turkish Security forces capture gunman who killed 39 people at the #Reina nightclub attack in #Istanbul pic.twitter.com/EUiAcXGqFw
The Daesh terrorist group, outlawed in many countries, including Russia, has taken responsibility for the attack.
