Turkey nabbed over 231,000 drug suspects last year

By Aykut Karadag

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish security forces nabbed 231,652 suspects in counter-narcotic operations across the country in 2020, according to a report by Turkey’s General Directorate of Security.

The report, prepared by the Department of Combating Narcotic Crimes, indicated that Turkish police units conducted 159,268 counter-narcotic operations and interventions, up 7% from 2019.

In the operations and interventions, 231,652 suspects were caught by Turkish security forces, up 5.3% compared to the previous year.

Turkish security forces seized 13.7 tons of heroin, 93.7 tons of marijuana and skunk (a type of chemical marijuana), 1.9 tons of cocaine, around four tons of methamphetamine and over 11 million ecstasy pills.

Additionally, over 2 million Captagon pills and 1.7 tons of bonzai were seized by Turkish forces in 2020.

- Financial resource of terrorism: drug trafficking

The illegal drug trade is an important financial resource for all kinds of criminal organizations, and it is difficult to make estimations about the financial dimension of this activity, which is carried out in secrecy in different regions and markets at the global level, according to the report.

It was noted that terrorist organizations including the PKK/KCK/PYD, DHKP/C, TKP/ML and FETO have a close relationship with drug smuggling.

The report revealed the relationship of these terrorist organizations with all stages of drug trafficking through intelligence reports, investigations by law enforcement officers, academic studies and open source searches.

- PKK/KCK/PYD terror group dealt major blow

Units of the Turkish General Directorate of Security conducted 464 operations against the PKK/KCK/PYD terror group between 1980-2020 and arrested 1,497 suspects.

In these operations, Turkish security forces seized over 96 tons of marijuana, 5.4 tons of heroin, 71 kilograms (156 pounds) of opium, 4.3 tons of morphine base and 9.4 kilograms (20 pounds) of cocaine.

In addition, 137,851 ecstasy pills, 72 Captagon pills, 28,348 liters of acetic anhydride and over 121 million cannabis roots were seized by security forces.

In the same period, 975 suspects were detained and 244,835 kilograms (539,768 pounds) of cannabis and nearly 223 million cannabis roots were seized in 193 operations carried out by Gendarmerie General Command units against the terrorist organization PKK's revenue from illegal drug cultivation.