Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on Thursday, April 17, that police had detained 525 suspected drug dealers in what he called the ‘biggest narcotics operation’ in the country’s history. The operation took place in the capital, Ankara.
“We have shown those poison peddlers once again very clearly: the streets you have entered is a dead end,” Yerlikaya wrote on his X account. The arrests were made following over six months of “technical and physical surveillance” of the suspects.
The Interior Ministry announced that the crackdown on drug dealers will persist, with additional detentions expected in the coming days. The operation involved 4,768 police officers, 1,461 teams, 40 specially trained detector dogs, 4 drones, and aerial support units.
The raids in Turkey came after a major Europe-wide operation on Tuesday targeting international drug trafficking and money laundering networks. Led by Europol and law enforcement agencies in the Netherlands, Turkey, Germany, Spain, and Belgium, the operation resulted in the arrest of over 230 individuals and the seizure of assets valued at $400 million.
