Turkish police have arrested 85 people in relation to last month’s arson attack against a Starlink satellite station in Poland.

The attack last month, on September 23, targeted a Starlink satellite ground station in the Masovian Voivodeship.

At the time, Poland described the attack as a deliberate “act of sabotage,” with the attack linked back to Russia, which has been targeting Starlink infrastructure that has been used by Ukraine’s military.

An investigation into the attack led to the arrest of two Turkish nationals, who were detained by German services based on the European Arrest Warrant on October 12.

It appears the net has now widened, with Turkish media outlets reporting this week that 85 people across 30 Turkish provinces were arrested as part of raids targeting the Daltonlar (Daltons), an Istanbul-based crime group suspected of involvement in the arson attack in Poland.

Turkish Minute reports that Turkish investigators suspect that the Daltonlar is directed from Russia by its alleged leader, Beratcan Gökdemir, who is wanted under an INTERPOL Red Notice.

Authorities in the country carried out an operation against the network, which police accuse of recruiting people through social media and adding them to WhatsApp groups, where they received instructions to carry out attacks.

Those detained by police include 35 minors, with those arrested including suspects that police believe to be preparing attacks.

The attack last month damaged power supply and a generator at a Starlink ground station, though operations have since resumed at the site.

Polish Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski noted at the time that the attack was deliberately designed to disrupt Internet access for various institutions, including the Ukrainian army.

Starlink has been a key part of Ukraine’s communications infrastructure since the country’s war with Russia began in 2022. In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, thousands of Starlink terminals were given to Ukraine.

However, this infrastructure, along with other communications infrastructure, has been targeted by Russia during the war, both in Ukraine and in other European countries, including Poland, Moldova, and recently a Starlink station in Bulgaria.

Throughout the conflict, Russia has carried out strikes that have hit data centers in Ukraine. Multiple Ukrainian data centers have been hit in just the last few weeks.

In recent weeks, Russia has targeted Ukraine’s telecoms infrastructure, along with data centers in the country, while Ukraine has also stepped up efforts to hit some of Russia’s data centers, including a third Yandex data center in Russia.