Police uncover Turkish-Dutch drug traffickers, detain post officer

ISTANBUL

Police have uncovered a Turkish-Dutch drug trafficking gang in Istanbul and detained the group’s suspected Turkey organizer, who has been working as a department manager in the national postal service (PTT). 

The man, identified only as Aydın K. was detained after police seized six tons and 773 liters of acid anhydride with a market value of over 33 million Turkish Liras, daily Habertürk reported on July 10. 

Teams from Istanbul customs enforcement started to track two companies, whose names were undisclosed, that import acetic acid from the Netherlands. An operation was launched as soon as the firms placed the chemical substance that entered Turkey onto eight pallets and 288 containers in a warehouse in Istanbul’s rural Çatalca district. 

The customs enforcement units carried out a detailed search with narcotic detector dogs in the warehouse and thus found the cargos apparently holding acetic acid. 

The authorities then took the chemical substance to the customs’ laboratory for investigation, before determining that the chemical was actually acid anhydride, used in heroin production. 

The market value of the acid anhydrite was found to be over 33 million liras and could be used to produce over 10 tons of heroin, which corresponds to the highest amount seized in a single operation in recent years, according to Habertürk.
 
Further operations were carried out it Istanbul, the capital Ankara, and the southern province of Antalya. Six people, including the owners of the firms, were detained in the operations. 

The detained company directors reportedly told police that they were convinced by Aydın K. 

“Aydın K., who is a manager in the PTT General Directorate, persuaded us. He said, ‘This way you will get value-added tax and the financial turnover of your company will increase,’” they reportedly stated, after which the police detained Aydın K.  

In addition, one Dutch citizen, identified only as Van Der E., who booked a hotel room in Istanbul to check the acid anhydride delivery, was detained while getting a massage. 

Eight detainees were referred to the Çatalya Courthouse and arrested. 

In another operation carried out in the port in Istanbul’s Pendik district, police confiscated over two tons of acid anhydride hidden in three trucks. 

The drivers of the trucks were also detained.