Istanbul police detain dozens in drug raids

Police forces in Istanbul and nearby cities have launched calculated drug raids, detaining dozens and seizing large amounts of drugs and chemicals Aug. 7-8, in an attempt to diminish the rising use of synthetic drugs in Turkey’s cities.

Hundreds of Istanbul police conducted raids in several Istanbul districts, aided with the support of helicopters.

On Aug. 7, an operation was held in the Anatolian district of Kartal, which saw more than 500 police officers from the narcotic and riot police division storm 20 houses and seize large quantities of marijuana and a cheap, addictive and potent form of marijuana, known as “bonzai.”

In Ümraniye, on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, more than 10 people were detained on Aug. 8 in 12 different raids by 400 police officers, while in the eastern districts of Zeytinburnu and Fatih, more than five kilograms of drugs and nearly 9,000 ecstasy pills were seized by police forces in operations that saw nine people detained.

Meanwhile in Turkey’s western city, Sakarya, police forces captured almost 35 kilograms of “bonzai” on
Aug. 7 and more than 16 kilograms of chemical materials used for drugs.

Turkish authorities have escalated their fight against the recently notorious bonzai drug, which has seen around 20 people die in last four months from its usage.

According to a report by an opposition MP from the Republican People’s Party (CHP), from 2011 to 2013 seizures of bonzai have increased eight-fold due to the drug becoming cheap and easily accessible in recent years.