Turkey arrests Syrian pilot

ISTANBUL – Turkey’s state-run news agency says the Syrian pilot who ejected over Turkey last month has been arrested for violating border security and espionage.

Anadolu news agency reported Friday that pilot Mehmet Sufhan, 56, was treated in the southern province of Hatay for a spinal fracture suffered after he ejected from the damaged Syrian plane on March 4. He was found in an exhausted state after a nine-hour search.

Anadolu says he was arrested following his discharge from the hospital.

Syrian opposition military group Ahrar al-Sham claimed to have downed the plane as it was bombing the countryside around the northwestern Syrian town of Idlib.