Teams from the Turkish narcotics police have found 1.5 tons of marijuana in a container on a ship from Mexico at Ambarlı Port in İstanbul, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported, citing a police statement.
Bags containing 1,580 kilograms of marijuana were found on Monday stashed between fabric in the container. The police conducted the operation following a two-month surveillance of the suspects involved in the transport of the marijuana after they were tipped off that a large amount of marijuana would be shipped from Mexico to Turkey. Five people have been detained in connection to the incident.
In Turkey the sale and supply of marijuana is banned and carries a prison term of five to 10 years, while its production or trafficking carries a minimum of 10 years.
According to excerpts from a June 27, 2021 report in the Spanish El Pais daily that were cited by the Turkish media, Turkey is part of a new drug trafficking route from Latin America to the Middle East.
Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has been criticized for failing to take action in the face of huge amounts of cocaine and other drugs that have been seized in Turkey in the past few years despite low consumption of the illegal drugs in the country.
Turkish mob boss Sedat Peker, who lives in exile in the UAE, revealed last year the alleged involvement of some AKP officials in international cocaine trafficking, claiming that Turkey had become part of a new route for cocaine smuggling thanks to the efforts of Turkey’s ruling politicians.