On October 17 2014, Serena Shim told Press TV that the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MİT) had accused her of "spying". She stated that it is "probably due to some of the stories she had covered about Turkey’s stance on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants in Kobanê". She had reported that ISIL militants being smuggled over the Turkish border into Syria on trucks bearing the symbols of NGOs like the "World Food Organisation". Serena, said on air she’s "a bit frightened" by what MİT "might use against me."