Around 200 arrested in Ankara's biggest drugs operation

By Cankut Tasdan and Hamdi Celikbas

ANKARA (AA) - A huge dawn sweep by Ankara’s narcotics police on Tuesday led to the arrest of around 200 suspects in the city’s largest ever anti-drugs operation, police said.

Ankara Police Chief Mahmut Karaaslan told reporters following the raids that the number of arrests was a record for a single police operation in Turkey.

Around 3,000 officers split into 600 teams, backed by sniffer dogs and two helicopters, targeted 250 addresses across the capital simultaneously.

Karaaslan said weapons and drugs were seized but did not give exact details, saying further information would be shared later.

The raids were the result of a six-month investigation. The operation was named after Cuneyt Bursa, the Ankara police head killed in last year’s attempted coup.