ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish authorities seized 220 kilograms of cocaine on a ship that arrived at a port in the country’s southern coast from Brazil, the local prosecutor’s office said late on Tuesday.
Police in the coastal province of Mersin found the cocaine hidden in a container carrying packages of paper, it said, adding two suspects had been detained.
Footage showed narcotics police with a search dog going through the container and taking the packaged blocks of cocaine out of boxes labeled as containing blank A4 paper.
Turkey is on the so-called Balkan Route of drugs trafficking which is used to supply the West with drugs from Asia and the Middle East, including heroin moving from Afghanistan to Europe.
Ankara says drug trafficking is one of the main financing sources for terrorist groups.
Turkey has in recent years expanded its anti-narcotics activities following a rise in drug use and deaths caused by synthetic marijuana consumption.
(Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen; Editing by Jonathan Spicer)
