ISTANBUL - A total of 189.5 kg of heroin was confiscated in joint operations in Istanbul and Italy and nine people were detained in connection with illicit drug trafficking.
Narcotic Deputy Security Chief Sammaz Demirtas said in a statement on Friday that an operation was launched after they received a tip-off that some people were planning to smuggle heroin in great amount from Turkey to abroad.
Demirtas said that police confiscated 59.8 kg of heroin in two trucks and 38.1 kg of heroin in a minibus during the operations in Istanbul, adding that seven people were detained in connection with trafficking.
He said that they also received information that this network put heroin in great amount in two trucks aboard a ship which left for Trieste port of Italy and noted that they contacted with Italian police.
Demirtas said that Italian police seized 91.5 kg of heroin hidden in the two trucks aboard the ship which approached to Trieste port.
Demirtas added that two people who planned to go to Italy by plane were also detained in Istanbul under the investigation.
(EÖ-MS) 30.05.2003