Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced that a total of 9 high-level organized crime organization members, 225 of whom are abroad and 234 of whom are in Turkey, were detained in the “Tuna-Bulut Operation” carried out against international organized drug crime organizations. The operation dealt a major blow to the criminal organizations that were involved in drug trafficking on a national and international scale and were trying to launder the proceeds of this crime.
Simultaneous Operation and International Cooperation
The operation was carried out under the coordination of the General Directorate of Security, with the participation of the Department of Combating Narcotics Crimes, the Interpol-Europol Department, the Istanbul Police Department, MASAK and 20 provinces centered in Istanbul. It was also carried out simultaneously with the police organizations of Europol, the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium and Germany. Information and documents were also shared with the police organizations of France, England, Australia, the USA, Greece, Serbia, Azerbaijan, Kosovo, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Brazil and Iran.
Targeted Criminal Organizations and Accusations
Within the scope of the Orkinos-Bulut operation, 4 different international drug organized crime organizations were targeted. It was determined that these organizations were shipping cocaine from South America by sea and land, heroin from Iran and Afghanistan, skunk from the Balkan countries and ecstasy from European countries. It was also determined that they were shipping precursor chemicals used in drug production to European countries.
It was determined that the targeted individuals were responsible for 21 tons 251 kilos of narcotics and 3 million 320 thousand tablets of narcotic pills seized in Turkey and abroad. It was determined that the criminal organizations committed crimes such as intentional homicide, gunshot wounding, kidnapping, deprivation of liberty and torture, shooting up workplaces and cars for the purpose of intimidation, and blackmail, in addition to drug trafficking and money laundering.
Large Amount of Assets Seized
As a result of the operation, assets worth approximately 681 billion Turkish liras were seized, including 127 real estates, 113 vehicles, partnership shares in 13 companies and bank accounts of the suspects, as determined by MASAK.
The Importance of International Cooperation
Minister Yerlikaya emphasized that the cooperation with Europol was significant enough to be recorded in history, and stated that Europol played a key role in operations against criminal organizations. He stated that joint strategies were developed with all relevant countries, that the structure of criminal networks was mapped through inter-institutional data sharing, and that their connections to other investigations were revealed.
The operation was carried out simultaneously in 5 countries including Türkiye and clearly showed that there are no boundaries in cross-border crimes. Minister Yerlikaya emphasized that drugs are the greatest enemy of humanity and that they will continue to fight against drug dealers.
