At least 20 tons of cartridges and shell casings were seized by the Turkish police on Wednesday in Kocaeli province near İstanbul Today`s Zaman reported.
The Kocaeli Governor's Office said in a statement on Wednesday that Turkish anti-smuggling units raided a truck in the Kartepe district of Kocaeli after a tip-off on Tuesday and found 20,500 kilograms of tank and mortar shell casings as well as automatic rifle bullet casings. It said the engraved writings on the casings are in a foreign language and are worth TL 266,500.
The truck was intercepted at a roadblock. The statement said the police seized the truck and its trailer. The governor's office said anti-smuggling units also seized 17,850 kilograms of copper metal in various forms worth TL 249,474. It added that the truck was believed to be carrying the metals from Syria.
The statement said the police are interrogating five suspects in connection with the incident