Turkish police launched an operation against criminal gangs on Friday in 20 provinces. Police squads raided several locations for the operation dubbed “Müsilaj-2,” with arrest warrants for 233 suspects. Müsilaj-2 (a word referring to sea snot) is the second such operation since May where security forces cracked down on organized crime and targeted 17 criminal gangs.
The operation, like its name implied, focuses on provinces on the Turkish coasts, from Adana in the south to Çanakkale in the west, as well as the Black Sea provinces, including Samsun, Giresun and Zonguldak. The ministry said the operations aim to eliminate criminal groups that affect the “country’s tourism.” Twelve criminal groups accused of robbery, usury and murder are targeted in the operations. Members of 27 other criminal groups “threatening public order” by supplying arms to other gangs, are also wanted in the operations.
Fight against organized crime is a priority for the interior ministry, where mobsters have gotten away with lenient sentences and had close ties to prominent figures, including politicians and intelligence services, in the past. Until the late 1990s, gang shootings were common, especially in big cities. Though the killings continued into the 2000s, mafia figures of past decades appear to have lost power, with many in jail. In the past six years, security forces ended the activities of 358 criminal gangs, including 30 operating nationwide, through continuous operations.
