Cocaine worth 24.5 million Turkish Liras seized from Liberia-flagged ship off Mersin

MERSİN – Anadolu Agency

Anti-drug police seized cocaine worth 24.5 million Turkish Liras from a foreign-flagged ship as it was approaching the harbor in the southern province of Mersin on Aug. 7.

Police raided a Liberia-flagged cargo ship after a tipoff that it was carrying drugs, according to a statement from the Mersin Chief Prosecutor’s Office. 

The containers, which were ostensibly filled with bananas, were unshipped for a police search. 

During the search the police, with the support of x-ray devices and specially trained dogs, found drugs stuffed in the bananas. They also found almost 123 kilograms of cocaine in 102 different packages placed on the ceiling of containers. 

Seven suspects were detained by police after the raid and an investigation has been opened into the incident.

Back on June 13, some 212 kilograms of cocaine were seized from a ship that was anchored in a harbor in Istanbul.

Anti-drug police conducted the search on a ship which was anchored in Ambarlı Harbor in Istanbul’s Avcılar district following a tipoff three months previously about a container in Brazil that was allegedly set to transport a large amount of drugs to Turkey.