Teams monitoring organised crime warn that the nation is changing into an entry level for medication reaching Europe.
Turkish police have seized the third largest haul of cocaine within the nation’s historical past, Inside Minister Ali Yerlikaya introduced on Thursday.
Some 608 kilograms of cocaine, most of it in liquid type, have been confiscated in an operation throughout three provinces, Yerlikaya posted on the social media platform X.
Practically 830 kilograms of precursor chemical compounds used to course of the drug have been additionally seized.
Yerlikaya stated the police operation focused a world gang allegedly led by a Lebanese-Venezuelan nationwide, who was amongst 4 international members of the “organized crime group” detained, together with 9 Turks.
“The quantity of cocaine seized within the … operation was the third largest quantity of cocaine seized at one time in Turkey,” the minister added.
Teams monitoring organized crime say Turkey is rising as a transit hub for cocaine coming from South America to Europe as safety at ports comparable to Rotterdam within the Netherlands turns into tighter.
Rise in cocaine seizures not mirrored in information, report says
In a report dated October final 12 months, the World Initiative In opposition to Transnational Organized Crime stated a 44% rise in cocaine seizures in Turkey between 2021 and 2022 was not mirrored in information on home consumption, “suggesting that the nation is more likely to function a drug hall.”
Officers made Turkey’s largest seizure – 1.1 tonnes of cocaine hidden in a consignment of bananas from Ecuador – on the Mediterranean port of Mersin in 2021.
Since coming to workplace in June final 12 months, Yerlikaya has overseen a clampdown on organized crime in Turkey to counter claims the nation has develop into a haven for international gangsters.
He frequently posts particulars of the most recent police operation to focus on drug traffickers, fraudsters and different criminals.
Thursday’s social media submit included a video, overlaid with dramatic music, displaying obvious surveillance footage, giant plastic containers and a urgent machine.
The operation was led by anti-narcotics officers based mostly in Kocaeli, which lies southeast of Istanbul, but additionally included investigations in Tekirdag to Istanbul’s northwest and within the Mediterranean province of Antalya.
The gang used vineyards in Tekirdag and Antalya to retailer chemical compounds and course of the cocaine, which had been disguised in fertilizer, in keeping with Yerlikaya. A shotgun was additionally recovered by police, he added.
“We won’t tolerate poison traffickers, organized crime teams and gangs, whether or not nationwide or worldwide,” the minister wrote.