Nearly one million drug pills seized on Saudi cargo plane in Turkey’s Adana
ADANA
Some 965,000 illicit drug pills were seized in the southern province of Adana on a Saudi Arabian cargo plane, a statement by the Adana Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said on Oct. 11.
The statement said the pills were seized in the Adana Şakirpaşa Airport and they were set to be sent to Saudi Arabia via a cargo plane.
Adana police acted on a tip-off over drugs that would be shipped on a cargo plane belonging to Saudi Arabia.
The police sought and obtained a search warrant from the local prosecutor for the suspected plane.
They found a total of 965,000 pills hidden between water purification kits.
The value of the seized drugs is believed to be 14 million Turkish Liras ($2.3 million), Demirören News Agency reported.
100 kg of heroin seized
On a separate note, security forces on Oct. 11 seized 132 kilograms of heroin in the eastern province of Van, police said in a statement.
According to the statement, the police stopped a truck in the Gürpinar district on suspicion of illegal drug activity and found 250 packets of heroin.
Two suspected drug traffickers were remanded in custody following the incident, the statement added.
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.
Both heroin and cocaine seizures rose by 51 percent, with ecstasy seizures up 245 percent, the Interior Ministry said.
Police operations against drug smuggling are up about 31 percent and detentions up around 28 percent this year, the ministry said.
