Police launch large-scale public security operation in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

A total of 2,000 police officers conducted a large-scale public security operation in Istanbul late on Aug. 26, targeting 232 sites across all of the city’s 39 districts.

Inspections were also carried out on public ferries operating between the European and Anatolian sides of Istanbul.

Police units seized several unlicensed firearms and a large amount of narcotics during the controls and detained 361 people with arrest warrants for various crimes.

Among those seized are 46 unlicensed pistols, 210 bullets, 3.35 kilos of narcotic drugs, 313 pieces of narcotic pills and nearly 4,000 liras ($476) of cash believed to have been obtained from the drug trade.

A total of 132,000 people were subject to General Information Gathering (GBT), while 174 people were also held on the grounds that they did not take a military enrollment.

Some 704 vehicles were subject to traffic control, during which fines worth a total of 136,307 liras ($16,238) were given and 37 vehicles confiscated.

During the controls in which 978 workplaces were inspected, legal actions were taken against seven workplaces and 20 people, and administrative fines of 8,687 ($1,034) liras were imposed.

Authorities were also in the field to monitor the public for compliance with rules against the coronavirus outbreak.