26 November 2018•Update: 26 November 2018
By Fatih Hafiz Mehmet
ANKARA
A total of 18 terrorists were "neutralized" across Turkey in a week, the Interior Ministry said in a statement on Monday.
Turkish authorities often use the word "neutralized" in their statements to imply that the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.
The statement said 13 of the terrorists were captured alive and five of them surrendered.
It said that seven terrorists were from Al- Nusra group, while three were from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and one from Hezbollah.
Turkish security forces destroyed 45 shelters or caves of the terrorists in eastern and southeastern Turkey from Nov. 19-26.
In the same period, 150 kilograms of heroin and 1,026 kilograms of marijuana were seized by the security forces and 3,695 suspects were arrested for drug trafficking.
At least 4,482 irregular migrants were held by security forces in the same period while 322 of them were held in the sea.
Some 129 suspects were arrested for organizing human smuggling.
Turkey has been the main route for refugees trying to cross into Europe, especially since the beginning of the civil war in Syria.
Some 205,000 irregular migrants were held in Turkey in 2018 as of Oct. 15, according to the Interior Ministry.
The irregular migrants were mostly Afghan, Pakistani, Syrian and Iraqi nationals.
