Police seize emeralds worth $1 million inside tea caddy at Istanbul airport

The suspect was caught at the airport’s international arrivals terminal after arriving from Dubai.

During the searches, police seized a total of 5.5 kilograms of rough emeralds inside a tea canny he was carrying. The value of the diamonds is expected to rise to up to $3 million once processed. 

The suspect was detained and taken to the security general directorate headquarters in Istanbul. He was expected to be deported later in the day.

He is suspected of being the carrier for a gemstone smuggling network based in the United Arab Emirates, with a gemstone firm operating in Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar acting as a buyer of the emeralds.

An investigation into the planned buyers of the emeralds is ongoing.

Meanwhile, Istanbul police seized a total of 19,950 smartphone batteries during a separate operation on a storehouse in the Fatih district of the city.

The batteries are thought to have a market value of around 400,000 Turkish Liras.

One suspect was detained in the operation.