Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on his social media account that, coordinated by the Gulf Republic Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and the General Directorate of Security (EGM) Narcotics Smuggling Directorate, the Kocaeli Provincial Security Directorate Intelligence and Narcotics Smuggling Branch conducted operations against an international drug trafficking organized crime group named “Narkoçelik-11”.
The operations carried out by the Kocaeli, Antalya, and Tekirdağ Narcotics Smuggling branches resulted in the capture of 13 individuals, including the leader of the international drug trafficking organized crime group, Danı Talal Awad Abushanap, of Lebanese and Venezuelan nationality.
Minister Yerlikaya stated that as a result of efforts to prevent drug trafficking, operations conducted in 3 provinces revealed that suspected members of the organized crime group stored the chemical substances they obtained in a vineyard house in the rural district of Saray in Tekirdağ. The group members then transported the stored chemical substances to Antalya, where they engaged in the process of separating and duplicating the cocaine, which had been soaked in fertilizer at vineyard houses in the Döşemealtı district of Antalya. Some of the duplicated drugs were intended to be distributed to the market.
Yerlikaya reported that as a result of the operations, 579 kilograms and 300 grams of liquid cocaine, 7 kilograms and 790 grams of cocaine (compressed into 7 packages), and 20 kilograms and 500 grams of cocaine soaked in fertilizer were seized. Additionally, 625 grams of cocaine, 827 kilograms and 500 grams of intermediary chemical substances used in drug duplication, a drug pressing machine, 8 pressing molds used for cocaine, a precision scale, a pump-action rifle, and various apparatus used in drug separation and duplication were also confiscated.
Regarding the operations, Interior Minister Yerlikaya stated, “The amount of cocaine seized in Operation Narkoçelik-11 was the 3rd largest amount of cocaine seized at once in Turkey by the EGM. I want our dear nation to know that we will not turn a blind eye to drug traffickers, organized crime groups, and gangs, whether national or international. Our operations against organized crime groups will continue with determination at dawn and at dusk. I congratulate our Gulf Republic Chief Public Prosecutor and our heroic police officers who carried out the operations on the festive day. May God bless you. Our nation’s prayers are with you.”
