Detention orders for 163 suspects in the investigation into criminal organizations involved in international drug trafficking

In the statement made by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, it was stated that within the scope of the investigations carried out by the Organized Crimes Investigation Bureau, criminal organizations that import and export drugs between countries using an encrypted communication program were identified.

In the statement, it was stated that this encrypted communication application used by the criminal organizations in question provides end-to-end encrypted messaging, that the application works on specially prepared mobile phones, and that it is understood that hardware such as microphone, camera and GPS are disabled on these devices.

In the statement, it was noted that the criminal organizations, whose existence was detected as a result of the examination of the correspondences made through the encrypted communication program, transported the drugs they obtained from various countries, from time to time to Türkiye and sometimes to other countries. "It was understood that they obtained a high amount of illegal income and tried to launder this income through various methods. It was determined that the criminal organizations in question shipped drugs 35 times on different dates within the country and abroad, and it was understood that the total weight of the drugs subject to these shipments was over 10 tons." It was said.

In the statement, it was stated that 168 suspects who were found to have participated in the actions were identified, 29 of the suspects were in prison for other crimes, 74 were abroad and fugitives, 5 were deceased and 60 were in Türkiye. It was reported that a simultaneous operation was organized by the teams of the Istanbul Anti-Narcotic Crimes Branch Directorate to catch the suspects.