ANKARA, Jan. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler confirmed late Friday that local police had earlier arrested Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turk who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, from the place where he stayed in Kartal district in the country's largest city.

    The arrest was made after Turkish Supreme Court overturned the ruling by a lower court, the Kartal Criminal Court, to release Mehmet Ali Agca, reported the semi-official Anatolia news agency. "The decision of the Supreme Court of Appeals has just been made public and policemen are taking Agca to the SecurityDepartment. He will be handed over to judicial officials," Guler was quoted as saying.

    Earlier, media reports said that the police arrested Agca following a search in Istanbul, shortly after the Supreme Court's ruling.

    The court overturned the ruling of Kartal Criminal Court, three days after Turkish Justice Minister Cemil Cicek formally asked forthe overturn, said the reports.

    The Supreme Court said that the time Agca had served in an Italian prison should not have been deducted from his term in prison in Turkey.

    Agca, 48, was released on Jan. 12 from Kartal prison in Istanbul, the largest city of Turkey, after initially serving 19 years in an Italian prison for the assassination attempt before being pardoned at Pope John Paul II's behest in 2000. He was then extradited to Turkey to serve a separate sentencein Kartal prison for murdering prominent Turkish journalist Abdi Ipekci in 1979.

    After Agca was set free on Jan. 12, Cicek asked the Court of Appeals to annul Agca's release, arguing that he should serve a full 10-year term for killing Ipekci.

    However, it was not immediately clear how long a term Agca would have to serve in prison following the new ruling. On May 13, 1981, Agca attempted to kill Pope John Paul II when the pope was riding in an open car in St. Peter's Square in Rome. John Paul was hit in the abdomen, left hand and right arm but recovered as Agca's bullets missed vital organs. Enditem