ANKARA, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Turkish authorities on Thursday detained 525 individuals in an anti-narcotics operation in the capital Ankara, marking "the largest drug crackdown" in the nation's history, according to Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya.

The operation, which began early Thursday, targeted over 625 locations across the capital. It involved 4,768 police officers, 1,461 teams, 40 specially trained detector dogs, four unmanned aerial vehicles, and air support elements, Yerlikaya said on social media platform X.

The operation was the culmination of six months of technical and physical surveillance, he said, adding, "Our target in the operation was street dealers, who sell drugs in neighborhoods and streets through internet-based communication platforms."

The operation came one day after a Europe-wide crackdown, coordinated by Türkiye, on international drug and money laundering networks, which resulted in over 230 arrests and the seizure of 400 million U.S. dollars in assets across several countries, including the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Belgium, and Türkiye. ■