Turkish embassy staffer arrested for secretly photographing underage Israeli girls

29-year-old staffer at Turkey’s embassy in Israel caught after hiding in stall at women’s changing room at Tel Aviv beach, secretly taking pictures of young girls as they got dressed.

By World Israel News Staff

A staffer working for the Turkish Embassy in Israel was arrested Friday after he was caught secretly photographing underage girls in a beachside dressing room.

Omar Kusi, 29, was taken into custody by local police after he was found hiding in a stall in a women’s locker room at Frishman Beach.

Kusi had apparently snuck into the locker room and hid in a vacant stall, from which he clandestinely snapped photographs of two girls as they changed clothes, holding the phone up over the stall door to take the pictures.

The girls, who were 13 years old, according to a report by Channel 12, eventually spotted Kusi’s camera as he held it up over the doors to snap the photographs.

Immediately afterward, the girls informed several women nearby and called the police.

Officers arrived on the scene and found Kusi still hiding in the women’s locker room.

According to the Channel 12 report, he was found to have “sexual pictures” on his phone.

The report cited an officer who responded to the complaint and said that Kusi “doesn’t deny that he took photos.”

The officer added, however, that Kusi attempted to provide an explanation for the incident that “in my view doesn’t hold water.”

According to police, three separate complaints were filed regarding the incident.

The Turkish mission to Israel requested that Kusi be placed in the embassy’s custody, vowing that he would be brought to any criminal hearings or requests for questioning.

However, police refused the request, keeping Kusi in detention.