Türkiye conducted 1,741 operations targeting 625 emerging and organized criminal groups in the first nine months of 2026, resulting in the arrest of 8,170 people, Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi said on Sunday.
Çiftçi said combating emerging criminal groups and intensifying the fight against drugs remained among the Interior Ministry's priorities.
He said criminal networks had increasingly sought to fill the space left by terrorist organizations, describing the groups as “terrorists without uniforms.”
According to Çiftçi, these groups use social media and digital platforms to organize, recruit members, threaten people, open fire on homes, vehicles and workplaces, and extort money.
He emphasized that cutting off their financial resources and apprehending their leaders and members were essential to tackling organized crime.
Authorities seized criminal proceeds worth approximately TL 95 billion ($1.91 billion) in operations targeting emerging criminal groups, including money, real estate and vehicles obtained through illegal activities, Çiftçi said.
The minister added that some criminal group leaders and members flee abroad following police operations but continue directing criminal activities in Türkiye through social media and digital platforms.
He said international cooperation was therefore essential to combating cross-border crime, noting that Türkiye had secured the extradition of 736 people from 44 countries.
Georgia had provided the greatest support in this area, recently extraditing 61 people, Çiftçi said.
He added that Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Georgia had agreed to establish a trilateral mechanism to strengthen cooperation against criminal organizations.
Çiftçi also said operations against narcotics-related crimes had resulted in the seizure of approximately 39 tons of drugs, 103 million narcotic pills and 20 million cannabis and skunk plants during 2026.
Authorities conducted 42,377 operations targeting drug-related offenses during the first nine months of the year, with 35,819 people arrested or taken into custody in connection with these cases, Çiftçi said.
He noted that drug-related crimes accounted for a significant share of Türkiye's prison population, saying approximately 36% of the 434,000 people held in prisons were incarcerated for such offenses.
The minister also highlighted efforts to combat cybercrime and fraud, saying cyber patrols had identified 197,491 individuals or accounts containing criminal elements during the first nine months of 2026.
Authorities had also blocked access to 42,010 websites and social media accounts, including illegal betting platforms, he added.
Çiftçi said the government was preparing additional measures to combat fraud, including the Dolunay Anti-Fraud Center Project developed by the Gendarmerie General Command.
The project has reached the legislative preparation stage and is designed to strengthen cooperation among prosecutors, police, the gendarmerie, the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) and the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK).
It will also use artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate the processing of fraud complaints, freeze suspicious accounts and enable intervention within 18 minutes, he said.
Assessing broader security trends, Çiftçi said crimes against persons had declined by 11.5% compared with the same period last year, while crimes against property had fallen by 31%.
“Our priority is to ensure citizens' safety,” he said, stressing that protecting people's lives and property remained the Interior Ministry's primary responsibility.
