ANKARA, July 30 (AFP) - Turkish police and customs officials have seized one tonne (2,200 pounds) of heroin destined for Europe and detained two suspects in an operation in Istanbul, a government minister said Friday.
The haul was found hidden in caches on a truck loaded with boats and canoes waiting in a customs area in the city, State Minister Kursat Tuzmen told the Anatolia news agency.
The drugs, which were hidden under detergent so as not be noticed by sniffer dogs, was to be taken to the Netherlands via Italy, the report said.
The truck's driver and a second suspect were taken into custody, it added.
It was not clear how much the haul was worth.
Turkey is a major route of drug trafficking and people-smuggling between Asia and Europe.
According to the Turkish interior ministry's department against organized crime and smuggling, Turkey, straddling Asia and Europe, is on one of the oldest routes for transferring heroin produced in Afghanistan and its environs to western markets.
In January this year, Istanbul police seized a tonne of heroin in the basement of a factory as the suspected smugglers were getting ready to transfer the narcotics abroad.