Turkish police use dogs to search luggage of German passengers in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

Police on Oct. 25 conducted searches with dogs on the luggage of a number of passengers from Germany who landed at Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport as a part of an anti-narcotics measure, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

Narcotics dogs searched the luggage after passengers passed through passport controls at the airport’s international arrivals terminal.

The passengers were only allowed to enter Turkey after no narcotics were found in their belongings.

The move comes after Austrian officials recently drew an angry response from Ankara for conducting body searches with dogs of Turkish passengers in Vienna.

The Foreign Ministry condemned the harassment of Turkish Airlines passengers who were subjected to body searches by police dogs at Vienna International Airport.

“The Turkish Embassy in Vienna drew attention to the inconvenient control of people in the footage and demanded that the Austrian authorities, particularly customs officers, be warned,” the ministry said in a written statement late on Oct. 19, after footage of the searches was posted online.