Lived 8 Years Disguised as a Woman to Escape Prison

In a cinematic thriller that defies criminal imagination, Istanbul witnessed the end of the longest and most bizarre fugitive concealment in security history, where a professional escapee fooled authorities and society for eight years by living as a woman to avoid prison.

The story began in 2018, when a final court ruling sentenced a man named Turul Bar to prison in three cases involving theft and impersonation of official personnel. Instead of surrendering, he vanished completely from public view, devising a diabolical plan based on erasing his identity as a man entirely.

The fugitive realized that his official police photographs would be his first downfall, so he embarked on a radical transformation:

Complete disguise: He altered his facial features, hairstyle, and clothing style entirely to appear as a woman in all daily movements, making it impossible for security officers to match his new appearance with old photos.

Evading roadblocks: Beyond superficial disguise, he seized his sister’s official ID card and confidently presented it to security personnel at checkpoints, tricking the verification systems with his intricate deception.

The Fall of the Hidden Fugitive

Despite his astonishing success over eight years hiding as a "woman" in Istanbul neighborhoods, his dramatic downfall came due to a minor financial error caught by criminal intelligence with sharp insight:

Suspicious financial thread: Authorities detected credit card transactions and financial coordination under his sister’s name in the upscale Kadıköy district, despite official records confirming she was abroad at the time.

Sudden raid: Security forces imposed strict covert surveillance on the location before storming the premises and arresting the person disguised as a woman.

Shock of biological fingerprints: The suspect was taken to the police station, and upon conducting a biological fingerprint check, the results perfectly matched the fugitive’s identity—"Turul Bar"—shattering the illusion of concealment in moments.

Immediately, the suspect was transferred to custody to serve his original sentence, while prosecutors launched a new criminal investigation into charges of identity fraud and forgery of official documents, facing enhanced penalties that would extend his imprisonment behind bars.