Police receive 851 bomb calls in 2019

Demirören News Agency – ANKARA

Turkish police have intervened in 141 bomb-related incidents and responded to 710 reports of suspicious packages in 2019 so far, a senior police officer said on July 19.

Some 400 police officers specialized in dismantling bombs and deployed in each of the country’s 81 provinces undergo regular trainings at a facility in the Gölbaşı district of the capital Ankara.

“We received 487 bomb calls in 2018, and 141 bomb-related incidents have occurred in 2019 so far. Besides that, we carry out duties of searching suspicious packages: 2,270 suspicious package incidents occurred in 2018, and 710 suspicious package incidents have occurred in 2019,” said Haydar Özdemir, Bomb Disposal and Examination Department manager.

Özdemir warned citizens to stay away from suspicious packages.

“Watching a bomb expert when intervening in an incident poses a huge risk for you because the explosion of a suspicious object or a bomb in a crowded place can cause a huge number of casualties,” he said.

Some 130 police officers with sniffer dogs assist the bomb disposal units across Turkey.

Bomb experts wear a suit weighing 35 kilograms. They also use remote-controlled wireless robots carrying a camera and an arm system to inspect suspicious objects from a safe distance.