Türkiye seizes 54.5 tons of drugs at customs in 10 months

ANKARA

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Customs teams in Türkiye seized 54.48 metric tons of drugs from January through October in operations aimed at protecting public health and economic security, the Trade Ministry has announced.

Teams used risk assessments to select vehicles, passengers and goods for checks with X-ray scanners and detection dogs, the ministry said.

They seized 9,261,191 e-cigarette pods, 105,116 devices and parts, 27,284,924 filled and empty cigarette tubes, 1,658,497 cigarette packs and 300.99 metric tons of cigarette and hookah tobacco. Other seizures included 20,675,055 filters and papers, 4,530 liters of liquid nicotine and e-liquid, 22,167 cigars and cigarillos and 33,413 liters of alcoholic beverages.

Under customs rules, technical teams take samples before destroying confirmed contraband without official tax stamps to keep it off the market. The ministry said it was upgrading its equipment and expanding its enforcement capacity.