Police seize 670 kg of heroin in eastern Turkey
Anti-narcotics teams in Aegean Izmir province also seize some 9 kg of synthetic drug in sniffer dog-aided operation
ANKARA / VAN / IZMIR, Turkey
Turkish police seized 670 kilograms (about 1,477 pounds) of heroin in the eastern Van province over the last five days, the country’s interior minister said on Friday.
Suleyman Soylu lauded the efforts of the provincial police and anti-narcotics teams, saying the seizures were a heavy blow to the illicit drug trade.
“You save our youth, our future,” the minister said in a tweet.
In a statement on Friday, the Van police said 248.2 kg (around 547 pounds) of heroin were recovered and a suspect was arrested in an operation in the Gurpinar district.
Anti-narcotics teams raided an identified address and found the drugs in a field not very far from the house of the suspect, identified only by the initials A.E.
A sniffer dog found 480 packets of heroin buried in the ground in eight sacks, the statement said.
Efforts against illicit drug trafficking, transport and storage in the area continue, it added.
Separately, anti-narcotics police teams in the Aegean Izmir province confiscated some 9 kg (19.8 Ibs) of synthetic drugs.
Acting on a tip, police stopped a suspicious truck in the Bornova district, and upon searching the truck with a sniffer dog, they found the narcotics hidden in the vehicle.
The truck driver was detained for interrogation.
Police said that it was the highest amount of drug of the same type seized in a single operation in the city to date.
