Turkey seizes 350 kg of cocaine at Mersin port; nine suspects arrested

Turkish authorities seized about 350 kilograms of cocaine hidden on a cargo ship that arrived at the port of Mersin and arrested nine suspects, officials said. The haul — packed in 12 large packages — came on a vessel that had sailed from Brazil.

How investigators say the smuggling worked

The narcotics were discovered during a search of the ship and were accompanied by diving equipment and gear for underwater scooters. The drugs are valued at roughly 1.5 billion Turkish lira (about €26.6 million).

The operation was carried out jointly by the Department for Combating Narcotics of the Istanbul Police Department and the Department for Combating Narcotics and Intelligence of the Mersin Police Department. The Mersin Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has opened a legal case against the detained suspects for production and trafficking of narcotic or stimulant substances.

Justice Minister Akin Gyurlek said the authorities will continue a determined fight against drug-related crime "from the source to the distribution network, from the financiers to the narco‑bosses." He added: "There will be no tolerance for drug traffickers, nor passage for narco-bosses," he said.

Investigators say they received information that a large consignment had been shipped from South America and determined the cargo ship from Brazil had docked in Mersin. According to the inquiry, police found a plan to hide the drugs in the ship's hull below the waterline, extract them with divers, and transport them to provinces in western Turkey.

The seizure follows the recent arrest in Istanbul, two days earlier, of Islam Yakut, who is accused of leading an international drug‑trafficking organization and had been on the run since 2017.

Photo: press material from the event