Turkey delivery man faces 18 years in jail for spitting on pizza

The sentence sought by prosecutors is unusually long.

2 min read

23 January, 2020

The defendant's motive is not known [Getty]

A Turkish delivery man who spat on a customer's pizza before handing it over is facing up to 18 years in prison, local media reported on Thursday.

The incident - which happened in 2017 in the central city of Eskisehir - was captured by a security camera in the customer's apartment block, according to the Demiroren news agency.

The footage showed the delivery man, identified as Burak S, spitting on the pizza and recording the moment on his mobile phone.

The defendant has already been fined 4,000 lira ($675) for endangering a customer's health, but prosecutors are now seeking a lengthy prison sentence for "poisoning food".

The owner of the partment building alerted the customer after watching the security footage, prompting the criminal complaint.

Even by Turkey's often tough judicial standards, the requested sentence is heavy, given that "membership of an armed terrorist organisation" carries a sentence of up to 15 years.

It is not the only strange incident to make the Turkish news in recent weeks.

Turkish customs officers also caught a car smuggling more than 5,000 baby turtles in the northeastern town of Artvin, close to the border with Georgia.

The turtles were wedged inside the car's doors.

Last November, a Russian citizen was similarly caught smuggling more than 3,000 terrapin turtles inside pizza boxes in the same area of Turkey.

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