Turkey shifts from drug transit route to production hub: Turkish police
Turkey shifts from drug transit route to production hub: Turkish police
Turkey has moved beyond its traditional role as a corridor for illegal drugs and has become a destination market and a production hub, according to a 2025 report by the Turkish police.
Turkey lies on major land and sea routes linking Asia and the Middle East to Europe, and officials say traffickers are increasingly using the country not only to move drugs onward but also to process and manufacture them.
The report documented 49 methamphetamine conversion facilities discovered between 2022 and 2024, with 44 located in İstanbul alone.
Authorities also identified more than 10 illegal pharmaceutical tableting operations and two Captagon production sites in border provinces, the report said. (Turkish Minute, Türkei, 08.01.2026)