2 million drug pills seized in Mersin

MERSİN

Police seized a total of 1.96 million illicit drug pills in an operation in the southern coastal city of Mersin, Demirören News Agency reported.

Acting on a tip-off that a large amount of pills had been smuggled from Europe into Turkey, anti-drug units launched an operation against the suspects. The police also obtained information that the smuggled drugs would be shipped to Middle Eastern countries and began monitoring the activities of the suspects.

The police finally took action on Oct. 27 and apprehended seven individuals. The statements of the suspects revealed that the smuggled drugs were restored in a warehouse.

The police searched the facility and found a total of 1,958,700 drug pills weighing 326 kilograms that were hidden in sacks and large cylinder pipes under the floor of the warehouse.

Earlier this month, police seized 965,000 drug pills in the southern province of Adana on a Saudi Arabian cargo plane.

The value of the seized drugs is believed to be 14 million Turkish Liras ($2.3 million), Demirören News Agency reported at that time.

Turkey seized more than $460 million worth of narcotics in the first nine months of 2018, authorities said on Oct. 10, a surge from a year earlier as Turkey ramps up its fight against illegal drug trafficking.