ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The minister of the interior of Turkey on Thursday said they had seized over 34 million Captagon pills in Istanbul, the highest amount ever seized “at one time.”

"The operation conducted by the Istanbul Provincial Gendarmerie Command is the highest amount of narcotic pills seized by the Gendarmerie at one time, 34 million 270 thousand narcotic pills,” Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced in a post on social media platform X.

In addition to the Captagon pills, “4 kg of methamphetamine” and “6 kg of heroin were seized” in the anti-narcotic operation in Istanbul.

Yerlikaya said simultaneous operations across 22 other provinces were conducted across Turkey, including the Kurdish southeast regions, during which a total of 1.756 tonnes of drugs were seized.

Yerlikaya detailed that during the nationwide operation, the police arrested 58 suspected drug dealers.

"Drugs endanger the security, health, and future of our nation. Let's fight together to keep our youth, who are our future, away from drugs,” Yerlikaya said. 

Captagon, an amphetamine-type stimulant, vastly used in the Middle East, is produced in Syria and Lebanon, with Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Turkey being the primary consumers.

A day earlier, the Turkish minister of the interior briefed the parliament’s planning and budget committee, about their anti-narcotic activities, saying police had seized 81 tonnes of drugs in the first 10 months of 2024, including 9.9 million Captagon pills.  

He vowed that they would crack down on drug trafficking.

"The fight against drugs is not only a security issue, it is also a matter of our future," he said. "We do not and will not allow them [drug dealers] to darken the future of our children."