Turkey detains 520 suspects for drug trafficking

Ankara, Aug 14 (IANS) Turkish police detained 520 suspects for manufacturing and trafficking drugs during extensive operations across the country, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Wednesday.

The police seized more than 3.7 tonnes of narcotics and 861,000 drug pills in those raids, Yerlikaya said on social media X, without specifying the time of the action, Xinhua news agency reported.

The operations, dubbed "Narkocelik-32", were conducted across 59 provinces, including Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, and involved 3,250 personnel, he added.

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

According to Turkey's Foreign Affairs Ministry, the country is exposed to an "extensive flow" of licit and illicit goods due to its location.

"This location lies at the crossroads of the heroin production sites in Afghanistan and consumption markets in Europe. Turkey is also intensively exposed to the growing ATS and precursor trade between Europe and the Middle East," officials said.

In recent years, the Turkish National Police (TNP) has made nearly 20 per cent of the global heroin seizures, as per the estimates of the foreign ministry.

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