Turkish police seized 268 kg of heroin and 112.5 kg of hashish in Istanbul, the largest city of Turkey, Istanbul police chief Celalettin Cerrah announced on Thursday.

Cerrah noted in a press conference that the drugs were seized by anti-drug squads, who waged operations in Bayrampasa, Esenler, Kadikoy and Kucukcekmece districts of the city.

He said that 23 suspected drug smugglers were also arrested in the operations.

Turkey is on a key transit route for gangs smuggling drugs from Asia and the Middle East to markets in Western Europe.

In 2005, Turkish security forces seized 6,663 kg of heroin, 140 kg of morphine base, 34 kg of opium, 6,002 kg of hashish, 40 kg of cocaine, some 1.23 million Captagon pills and 5.76 million Ecstasy pills, the official figures showed.

Source: Xinhua