In the heart of Istanbul, onlookers gather around taking selfies of the police's latest addition to its carpool: a Ferrari. City police now boast some of the world's flashiest supercars, not only Ferraris but also Bentleys and Lexuses. They're the pickings of a nationwide crackdown on international organised crime involving narcotics smuggling and money laundering.
's unique geography straddling Europe and Asia makes it an ideal centre for international crime. "Turkey is in between the continents. So once you want to transfer a commodity which is illegal, it may be drugs, etc, you must have a step here," says Murat Aslan of the Foundation for Political, Economic, and Social Research, a think tank in .
Gang links "Most criminal gangs in Europe or the United States or South America have links to the ones here in Turkey – and that is why police have started operations, especially focusing on the ones who have warrants or arrest warrants by . "It's a process, and Turkey is currently in the middle of it." Interior Ministry videos show heavily armed police breaking down doors in the middle of the night at luxury addresses usually associated with Istanbul's high society.
Vast quantities of cash and guns are invariably recovered. Among those arrested are some of the world's most wanted criminals from Europe, Asia, and the , most connected to the illicit drugs trade, underlining Turkey's status as a hub for the European narcotics trade. Last week, Turkish police, with their Spanish .
