BOLU (CIHAN) - Twenty kilos of heroin were seized and two people were detained in an anti-smuggling operation today in the northwestern Turkish city of Bolu, according to police reports.
The Bolu Security Authority Anti-Drug Police, acting on tip-offs, seized twenty kilos and 204 grams of heroin of in a vehicle which had arrived in Bolu from the eastern Turkish city of Van and was on its way to Istanbul.
Police detained two smugglers known only by their names initials, A.U. and G.B. The detainees were brought before the Bolu City Court on charges of organized drug smuggling.
Turkey is a main route to Europe for drugs and human trafficking in the Middle East. Drugs from Afghanistan and neighboring countries are smuggled into western countries through Turkey.
One hundred and eighty kilos of heroin were seized and one person was detained in an anti-smuggling operation last week in the western Turkish city of Afyon.
Istanbul is on the key transit route for southwestern Asian heroin to Western Europe, and to a lesser extent to the US via air, land, and sea routes.
Early in 2004, in what was the biggest-ever haul of the drug in Europe, Istanbul police seized one thousand and four kilos of heroin in the Büyükçekmece district of Istanbul.