Turkish official praises successful anti-drug op.

IZMIR, Turkey

A senior Turkish official on Wednesday praised the security forces for carrying out an anti-drug operation which led to seizure of nearly 5 tons of powdered marijuana in the Mediterranean Sea.

“Turkish security forces have proven that they can carry out a successful operation anywhere in the world,” said Ibrahim Hakki Seydiogullari, who heads the counter-narcotics department at the General Directorate of Security.

Turkish forces acted on a tip-off that drug smugglers were allegedly on board a Turkey-flagged fishing boat which had set off from the Aegean province of Izmir on Feb. 5 to the coasts of Mauritania, Morocco and Algeria, to acquire large amounts of drugs.

The suspects were aiming to transfer the drugs into fishing vessels in international waters before smuggling them into Turkish territorial waters.

Some 230 security personnel and two narcotic dogs raided the vessel.

A total of 13 suspects including six crew members were detained across Turkey in the operation dubbed "Unity".

* Writing by Zehra Nur Duz