Record 2.07-tonne cannabis seizure at Kapikule border gate
Turkish Customs Enforcement found 2,070 kilograms of cannabis in 213 sacks on an Italy-to-Georgia lorry at the Kapikule border gate on 11 February 2020. Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan called it the largest single seizure at the country's land border gates, with an official estimated value of 124.22 million lira.
Customs Enforcement officers at the Kapikule border gate in Edirne searched a foreign-plated lorry travelling from Italy to Georgia after a risk analysis flagged it for an X-ray scan.[1]The lorry was declared as carrying fertilizer, but narcotics detector dogs reacted to several sacks, and officers unpacking them found 2,070 kilograms of cannabis in 213 sacks.[1]The lorry’s foreign-national driver was detained.[1]
Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan announced the seizure on 11 February 2020, calling it the largest single drug seizure at the country’s land border gates, with an official estimated street value of 124,220,000 lira.[1]The English-language press put the value at about $20.4 million and noted a companion find the same week of 306 kilograms in a trailer’s hidden compartment at the Ipsala crossing from Greece.[2]The Kapikule crossing in the northwestern province of Edirne is a key transit route for narcotics moving between Asia and Europe.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
No court outcome for the detained lorry driver was reported in the opened sources.
The same week brought two separate finds by Thrace customs teams, a 306 kg seizure in a trailer's hidden compartment at the Ipsala crossing and 4.6 kg in a car's spare tire at Kapikule a day earlier; they are different events left out here.
The English-language account rounds the seizure to two tonnes while the agency gives 2,070 kilograms; this report uses the agency figure.
İzmir narcotics police seized 1 tonne 367.5 kilograms of skunk cannabis in four interim captures, along with ecstasy and pregabalin that are not counted as cannabis. Fourteen suspects were caught, three of them remanded, after raids on 15 addresses; one person was still being sought.
Şanlıurfa gendarmes stopped a passenger bus on the Diyarbakır-Şanlıurfa highway and searched a suitcase belonging to a passenger, finding 1 kilogram 467 grams of esrar, the Turkish term for cannabis. One suspect was detained and held for referral to judicial authorities.
Şanlıurfa narcotics police stopped a passenger bus and two cars on suspicion and seized 17 kilograms 200 grams of skunk, a potent form of cannabis. The three suspects detained over the case were remanded in custody after being brought before a court, and the investigation continues.
Customs officers at the Esendere border gate in Hakkari stopped a Turkish traveller arriving from Iran and found 49.56 grams of suspected cannabis hidden in his shoe soles. The Yüksekova Chief Public Prosecutor's Office opened an investigation into the seizure.
