Turkish gendarmerie teams detained 140 suspects in drug-related operations across 28 provinces, with 80 of them arrested.
According to a statement from the Interior Ministry on Tuesday, provincial gendarmerie units conducted operations targeting drug dealers and illegal cannabis cultivation in coordination with the Gendarmerie General Command’s Department of Counter-Narcotics and local chief public prosecutor’s offices.
A total of 6,285 personnel took part in the operations.
Authorities seized 548 kilograms of drugs and 2.788 million drug pills during the operations. Of the 140 suspects detained, 80 were arrested, while judicial control measures were imposed on 60 others.
Investigators determined that the suspects provided funding for drug production, organized drug trafficking operations and sold drugs through social media and messaging applications.
Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi congratulated the personnel involved in the operations in a social media post.
“We are determined to break the poisonous hands reaching toward the peace of our nation and the future of our young people and children. We will not stop pursuing drug traffickers, from drug kingpins and street dealers to those involved in illegal cultivation and every link in this dirty trade,” Çiftçi said.
Çiftçi stressed that those seeking to threaten public peace would not be given an opportunity and that the fight against drugs would continue without compromise.
