World Bulletin/News Desk

Dozens of police officers were detained in Turkey on Tuesday as part of an investigation into alleged spying and illegally wiretapping Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his inner circle, local media reported.

Details are emerging of a second major police operation in Istanbul and other Turkish cities where officers are being sought in connection with an alleged illegal wiretapping probe.

The Istanbul-based operation, which began on early Tuesday, saw detentions take place in several Turkish cities. As part of the 'parallel state' operations, 16 police personnel have been detained in the eastern cities of Van, Bitlis, Diyarbakir, Igdir and the Turkish capital Ankara.

Overall, 33 police officials were being sought in the early hours of Tuesday on charges including wiretapping, espionage and forgery.

This morning’s operation follows a first wave of nationwide detentions in late July which saw a total of 31 police officers and chiefs arrested. Over 100 police officers were detained on July 22.

The Istanbul-based anti-graft operations have followed a December 2013 probe which led to the arrest of high-profile figures including the sons of three government ministers as well as several entrepreneurs.

All those detained in the December probes were later released pending trial.

The Turkish government has denounced the December probes as a "dirty plot" constructed by a "parallel structure" group of bureaucrats embedded within the country's key institutions, including the judiciary and the police.