Turkish authorities have seized assets worth about 7.66 billion lira from a drug trafficking network that communicated through specially modified encrypted phones, Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi said, in an operation reported on Oct. 14.
The investigation was run by the Organized Crimes Investigation Bureau of the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. Investigators say the group carried out 35 drug shipments, inside Türkiye and abroad, on different dates, with a combined weight of more than 10 tons.
168 suspects identified
Prosecutors identified 168 suspects in total. Of these, 29 were already in prison for other crimes, 74 are believed to be abroad and on the run, and five have died. An operation was ordered to detain the remaining 60, who are in Türkiye. The report did not say how many had been caught by the time of publication. Red notice procedures, which ask Interpol member states to locate and provisionally arrest suspects, have been started for those abroad.
The seizures cover all bank accounts and crypto assets belonging to 163 people, 556 properties, 155 motor vehicles and shares in 71 companies, Hürriyet reported. Çiftçi put their total value at 7 billion 657 million lira.
None of the suspects has yet been convicted, and the allegations remain to be proven in court.
How the phones were used
According to the investigation, the group used an encrypted messaging application installed on phones that had been specially prepared, with the microphone, camera and GPS functions disabled to avoid tracking. Investigators said they identified the network by analysing messages sent through the application.
European police forces have in recent years cracked several encrypted phone platforms marketed to organised crime groups, and messages obtained from such systems have been used as evidence in prosecutions in several countries.
Focus on the money
Turkish officials have increasingly paired drug raids with large-scale asset seizures, arguing that targeting property, companies and digital wallets weakens criminal groups more than arrests alone. The Interior Ministry regularly publicises the value of assets confiscated in such cases.
Türkiye lies on a major route for drugs moving between producing regions and European markets, including heroin from Afghanistan and cocaine shipped from South America through its ports, and authorities report record seizures of narcotics and synthetic drugs in recent years.
Sources
Photo: Dickelbers / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
