Turkey says 234 held in massive multi-nation swoop on organized crime

"This morning, a total of 234 high-level members of an organized crime group were detained, nine of whom were abroad and 225 were at home," Ali Yerlikaya told a press conference.

He said simultaneous raids were carried out in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Belgium and Turkey.

Officials shared documents and intelligence with a number of countries, including France and Britain, in the run up to the operation.

Some 21.2 tonnes of drugs were confiscated, the minister said.

"We are facing a huge structuring on an international scale," he said, adding that the members were accused of crimes ranging from drug trafficking to money laundering.

Turkish authorities targeted four international organized crime groups as part of the operation.

"These criminal organizations were seeking to ship cocaine to our country and Europe by sea and land from South American countries and heroin from Iran and Afghanistan, skunk cannabis through the Balkans and ecstasy through Europe," Yerlikaya said.