24 March 2016•Update: 28 March 2016
ISTANBUL
At least 30 suspects have been taken into custody early Thursday in drug and arms trafficking operations in Istanbul, police said.
Anti-Drug police raided numerous addresses simultaneously in Istanbul’s European side in the Esenyurt, Zeytinburnu, Buyukcekmece, Avcilar, Bayrampasa, Atasehir, Kagithane districts.
Police said one of the operations had been carried against street drug dealers; 17 nationals from Turkmenistan, four Iranians and six Turkish citizens were arrested.
Officers seized around 85 kilograms of several types of drugs, a gun and ammunition. The market value of the drugs was almost 17 million Turkish liras ($5.9 million), police said.
Moreover, Istanbul police's organized crime unit arrested three people suspected of arms trafficking in an operation in Istanbul’s Gaziosmanpasa and Kucukcekmece districts on European side.
Police have seized 15 unregistered guns, 18 magazines and ammunition in the raids.
The three suspects in the arms trafficking raid have been released but remain under judicial control.
