Ankara, September 04: Turkish security forces have confiscated nearly half a ton of heroin which was hidden in a truck in the northwestern province of Edirne.
According to the semi-official Anatolia news agency on Thursday, the 473 kg of the illicit drugs was hidden in 8 photocopy machines inside a truck which belongs to an international transportation company at the Kapikule customs point in Edirne, Xinhua reported on Thursday.
Officials told the agency that the heroin was worth more than 14 million Turkish liras (nearly 9.3 million US dollars).
The agency further added that the truck driver was detained, while wider operations were launched in the northwestern province Duzce and the central Kayseri province in connection with the incident.
Turkey is considered a key transit route for smuggling drugs from Asia and the Middle East to western European markets.
The Turkish government seized more than 15 tons of heroin, 39 tons of hashish and 1.4 million ecstasy pills last year.
—–Agencies