1.27 tons of heroin bust largest in Turkish history
Turkey’s interior minister said on Thursday that Wednesday’s heroin bust of over 1 ton was the largest in Turkish history.
“We have witnessed the largest seizure in Turkish history yesterday. The Erzincan Police Department units have seized a total of 1.27 tons of heroin,” Süleyman Soylu said while speaking at an international drug conference in the Mediterranean city of Antalya.
Turkish forces seized the heroin in anti-narcotic operations in the eastern province of Erzincan.
The confiscation came during a search on the back of a truck after it was stopped at a security checkpoint -- set up upon intelligence reports, he said.
Turkish security forces neutralized 515 YPG/PKK terrorists over the last three months in counterterrorism operations at home and abroad.“Neutralize” is the word Turkish authorities often use in their statements to imply that the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.Between Sept. 1 and Nov. 30, 17 security guards were martyred in YPG/PKK terror attacks.The attacks also left three civilians dead and six others injured.Nearly 1,400 PKK suspects -- including former deputy and mayors of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), an opposition party in Turkish parliament, -- were detained during anti-terror operations across Turkey. A total of 347 suspects were jailed.Turkish jets 'neutralize' 4 PKK terrorists in N. IraqSenior YPG/PKK terrorists among neutralizedSenior terror operatives in the terror group including many on the wanted list of Turkey’s Interior Ministry have been neutralized in operations within and beyond Turkish borders.The wanted list is divided into five color-coded categories, with red as the most wanted, followed by blue, green, orange and grey.Deniz Yuksel, codenamed Haki, who was sought on the green category of the list, was neutralized in southeastern Diyarbakir province.Fatih Ozden, codenamed Bager Andok, was neutralized during a counterterrorism operation in the southeastern Hakkari's Yuksekova district on Sept. 3.Turkey approves prison sentences for HDP’s Demirtaş, ÖnderOzden, one of the so-called heads of the terrorist group, was in the red category of the Interior Ministry's wanted list.Mehmet Y., a convicted member of the PKK terror group, was arrested by Interpol in Bulgaria upon Turkey’s request on Sept. 5.A total of nine YPG/PKK terrorists, who were behind the attack that martyred two Turkish soldiers during Operation Olive Branch in northern Syria, were brought to Turkey on Sept. 14.The terrorists were caught in a joint operation by Turkish National Intelligence Service (MIT) and the Turkish gendarmerie forces in Syria's Afrin city.They were involved in Jan. 23, 2018 terror attack in Rajo area of Afrin that left Lt. Oguz Kaan Usta and Specialist Sergeant Mehmet Muratdagi martyred.Turkey strikes blow to YPG/PKK at home, abroad in Nov.The terrorists had taken away with them the body of the lieutenant which could only be found after 58 days.Murat Akdogan, codenamed Ali Gever, who was marked orange in the Interior Ministry list, was neutralized during an operation in northern Iraq on Sept. 15.Also, Sabri Kartal -- who was on the grey list -- was arrested in an operation in Yuksekova on Sept. 16.Terrorists neutralized in OctoberOn Oct. 9, the police arrested a senior PKK/KCK member, identified as Devlet Aslan, in cooperation with the National Intelligence Service, in the southeastern province of Batman.Aslan is reportedly among the so-called heads of the terrorist group’s Belgium branch.Turkey 'neutralizes' 14 terrorists over past weekSerbest Paksoy, codenamed Rezan, and Selcuk Kose, codenamed Mahir Botan, were neutralized on Oct. 11 at Mt. Gabar of the southeastern Sirnak province.Yusuf Tunc, who was in the grey category of the Interior Ministry list, was killed on Oct. 17 in a counterterrorism operation in the southeastern Adiyaman province.Known by the initials K.B., a PKK terrorist who killed security guard Mehmet Paksoy in 2017, was arrested during an operation in the Uludere district of Sirnak on Oct. 24.Turkish security forces arrested Emrah Nayci, the terror group's so-called senior representative of Gabar, in an operation in the rural areas of Sirnak on Oct. 31.Terrorists neutralized in NovemberIlyas Karakoc, codenamed Baran Amed Kino, was revealed to be among the four terrorists who were neutralized in the rural part of the Lice district in Diyarbakir on Nov. 1.PKK terrorist Selim Demiroglu, codenamed Firat Celi, was neutralized on Nov. 3 in Sirnak.Terrorist Ali Akbas, codenamed Zinar Amed, who had a 300,000 Turkish liras ($57,400) bounty on his head, was killed in an operation in the eastern Mus province on Nov. 27.Muhammed Kaya, who martyred Gendarme commander Mj. Arslan Kulaksiz in 2015, was also neutralized in the same operation.In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people.The YPG is its Syrian branch.
Turkey 'neutralizes' 515 PKK terrorists in 2018 autumn
Soylu also rebuked the international support given to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terror organization after underlining an overt link between the terror group and drugs.
“We cannot explain with 21st century civilization norms how the PKK terror organization is still receiving weapons, logistic support and legal protection,” he said.
According to a police data, Turkish security forces have caught a total of 17.3 tons of heroin in 2018, arresting more than 1,500 suspects.
Underlining the PKK's active role in drug trafficking -- as well as that of its "renamed" version, the YPG -- Soylu accused Europe and the U.S. of failing to take a hard stance against the terror group despite its criminal activities and denying Ankara’s extradition requests for most wanted terrorists.
"If we want a world without terror, we must first have a world without drugs," Soylu said.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. The PKK has been conducting armed violence in the southeastern part of Turkey since 1984. More than 40,000 people, mostly civilians, have killed in the three-decade long conflict.