Turkey detains 103 for drug trafficking, seizes over 1.3 tonnes of narcotics

Ankara: The Turkish security forces detained 103 suspects for manufacturing and trafficking drugs in operations across the country, the country's Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said Tuesday.

The gendarmerie teams seized more than 1.3 tonnes of narcotics, 9.25 million roots of hemp, and 4,481 narcotic pills in raids across 17 provinces, Yerlikaya said on social media platform X, without specifying the timing of the operations, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We are determined to clean our country from poison dealers and street vendors," the minister said.

Yerlikaya posted on X, "Under the coordination of the Gendarmerie General Command KOM Department; By Provincial Gendarmerie Commands; "NARKOCELİK-29" operations were organised by Diyarbakır, Ordu, Kahramanmaraş, Gaziantep, Sakarya, Antalya, Malatya, Edirne, Erzurum, Bingöl, Aydın, Samsun, Konya, Kilis, Siirt, Van and Adana Provincial Gendarmerie Commands."

Turkey, often used by illegal drug dealers as a transit hub, has been ramping up efforts to crack down on drug smuggling since last year.