Five operations were carried out in the last month against criminal organizations attempting to establish a drug trade in Iran, Turkey and Japan. Eight Iranian and four Japan drug smugglers were apprehended.Anti-smuggling and Organized Crime Bureau officials learned that the Japanese gangs were trying to smuggle methamphetamine they had bought from Iranian drug dealers to Japan, and police were able to trace the route the drug smugglers had used for the first time.
The Iranian and Japanese drug smugglers carrying the drugs were closely monitored, and the police launched their operation when the drugs were brought to İstanbul from Iran. In the first operation, two Japanese drug smugglers were caught with 150,000 methamphetamine tablets. In the second, 130,000 methamphetamine tablets were seized and both Iranian and Japanese drug smugglers responsible for bringing the narcotics from Iran were captured. In the third operation, two Iranians were caught with 70,000 methamphetamine tablets. The biggest methamphetamine haul was seized during the fourth operation, in which three Iranians were captured with 21 kilograms -- more than 500,000 tablets of the drug. In the final operation, five kilograms of methamphetamine were found on two Iranians.
Police noted that methamphetamine is widely used in the US and Japan. The street value of the methamphetamine confiscated during the operations is estimated to be millions of dollars in Japan. Sources report that the price of a methamphetamine tablet is TL 10 ($6) in Turkey; however, the price of a methamphetamine tablet in Japan is approximately $50.
