Turkey seizes third largest haul of cocaine, says interior minister

Groups monitoring organised crime warn that Turkey is becoming entry point for drugs reaching Europe

Turkish police have seized the third largest haul of cocaine in the country’s history, the interior minister, Ali Yerlikaya, has announced, as groups monitoring organised crime warned that Turkey was becoming an entry point for drugs reaching Europe.

Approximately 608kg of cocaine, most of it in liquid form, were confiscated in an operation across three provinces, Yerlikaya posted on X on Thursday. Nearly 830kg of precursor chemicals used to process the drug were also seized.