Turkish police seize over 7 tons of marijuana

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

Security forces seized more than 7.2 tons of marijuana in anti-narcotics raids across five districts of the southeastern province of Diyarbakır on Sept. 14, security sources said.

In a statement, the Diyarbakir Governor’s Office said local gendarmerie commando units, police special forces unit and local security teams began anti-narcotics operations in the Lice, Kulp, Silvan, Hazro and Kocaköy districts of Diyarbakır on Sept. 10 and finalized the simultaneous operations on Sept. 14.

Over 7.2 tons of marijuana, 669,478 cannabis roots and over 712 kg of powdered hashish were seized in the four-day operations.

Security units also seized 401 AK-47 rifles, 698 M-16 rifles and four ammunition clips in Diyarbakir’s Lice district.

Security forces seized 62 tons and 83 kilograms of drugs in operations in the first eight months of this year.

A total of 94,853 anti-drug operations have been conducted between January and August, the Interior Ministry said in a statement on Sept. 11, adding that this number was 27 percent higher than the same period of last year.

Some 132,710 people were detained in the operations, 14,964 of whom were arrested. When compared to last year’s data, these figures were, respectively, 27 percent and 8 percent higher this year.

In one of the largest anti-drug operations in recent years, security forces on Aug. 8 seized a total of 800 kilograms of cocaine in the western province of Kocaeli.