The Interior Ministry announced that the seizure of heroin in the first eight months of this year increased about 53 percent compared to the same period last year. More than eleven tons of heroin were seized in operations by police and gendarme forces.

Security forces confiscated 62 tons and 83 kilos of drugs in the first eight months of 2018 in more than 94,000 operations. They also arrested 14,964 people in counternarcotics operations.

In August, security forces seized 800 kilos of cocaine aboard a cargo ship in the northwestern region of Kocaeli. It was the largest haul of the drug seized in a single operation in Turkey.

Turkey is a transit route for drug smuggling as a crossroad between Europe and Asia.