Istanbul narcotics police stopped a closed-box van on a highway in Pendik and detained its driver, identified only by the initials Ü.A.[1][2][3][4][5] Officers took Ü.A. into custody at the scene and brought him to the police station for questioning.[1] He was the only person reported detained in the operation.[1][6][7][8][9][3][10][11][12] After his statement procedures at the station, he was expected to be transferred to the courthouse.[1]

A search of the van’s cargo hold uncovered 336 kilograms 550 grams of skunk, which police seized.[13][2][6][7][8][9][3][4][10][5][11][12] Officers had followed the van on the previous evening as part of an investigation in Pendik, on Istanbul’s Anatolian side, before stopping it on the highway.[13][7] Teams had carried out a series of inquiries in the district within the scope of that investigation.[1]

The operation was carried out by the Istanbul Narcotic Crimes Combating Branch, the city’s anti-drug police unit, as part of its ongoing work against drug trafficking.[1][2][3][4][10][11][12] Police confiscated the drugs, and inquiries into the case were continuing.[13]