Turkish police detain 2,795 suspects in anti-narcotics operations

Ankara, Jan 23 Turkish police detained 2,795 suspects in a nationwide anti-drug trafficking operation, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Thursday.

In the operation code-named "Narkokapan-9," the police seized more than one tonne of narcotic substances and 13.8 million narcotic pills, Yerlikaya said on social media platform X, without specifying the time of the operation.

A total of 4,192 teams, 10,480 personnel, 47 UAVs and helicopters, and 98 drug sniffer dogs took part in the operation across 77 Turkish provinces, Yerlikaya said.

Video footage posted on Yerlikaya's X account showed police entering apartments and buildings and putting suspects into vehicles, Xinhua news agency reported.

Located at the crossroads of Asia and Europe, Turkey has been grappling with international drug smuggling for years.

Last week, the Turkish police seized 11.225 million drug pills and more than 1.2 tonnes of additives in a major operation in Istanbul, Yerlikaya had informed.

The police also detained 11 suspected drug manufacturers, informed Yerlikaya in a social media post, without specifying the exact time of the operation.

The police also confiscated 364 kg of empty capsules and six drug pill production machines, along with 73 aluminum blister rolls, he added.

Yerlikaya mentioned that such operations aimed to safeguard the future of Turkey's youth.

"Every operation we conduct and every substance we seize is a step towards protecting our future. Keeping our youth away from drugs is a shared responsibility," he said.

Since 2023, Turkey had ramped up its crackdown on drug smuggling.

Last year, the Turkish police had detained hundreds of suspects for drug trafficking and seized a massive amount of narcotics.

In September, the police had seized 479 kg of narcotics and 160,967 pills in simultaneous operations across 42 provinces with the help of seven police teams, 1,418 personnel, 12 aerial vehicles, and 37 narcotic detector dogs.