Turkey detains 336 suspects for drug trafficking

ANKARA: Turkish Police detained 336 suspects for manufacturing and trafficking drugs in operations across the country, the country's Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.

The police seized more than 2.4 tonnes of narcotics and 888,923 narcotic pills in raids across 49 provinces, Yerlikaya wrote on social media platform X on Tuesday, without specifying the time of the operations.

The "Narkocelik-35" operations, conducted across 49 provinces, involved 832 teams, 2,081 personnel, 10 aerial vehicles, and 39 narcotic detector dogs, according to Yerlikaya as reported by Xinhua news agency.

"We are determined to rid our country of poison dealers and street vendors," he added.

Minister Yerlikaya said on his social media account that operations were conducted in 49 provinces, including Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, and Antalya, targeting local criminal organisations and drug manufacturers.

Regarding the operations, the Minister said, "I want our dear nation to know that we are determined to rid our country of drug dealers and street vendors."

Turkey, often used by illegal drug dealers as a transit hub to European markets, has ramped up its crackdown on drug smuggling since 2023.