Turkish mobster Sedat Peker was arrested in the United Arab Emirates, Turkish media outlets are reporting, although this is being denied by his laywers. Peker became notorious in Macedonia after he stayed in the country for several months at the end of 2020 and in early 2021, under apparent protection of the Zaev regime which also issued him a Macedonian identity card under a false name.

Peker was eventually extradited from Macedonia, but to Kosovo, not Turkey, and he resumed his criminal activities from the Balkans before apparently moving to Dubai. From there, Peker has recently begun publishing massively watched video messages accusing people close to Erdogan of crimes and corruption. In one of them, Peker discussed his stay in Macedonia and said that he met with “the leader of that country, in his home” – apparently meaning Zoran Zaev.