Turkish Police Seize 350kg of Cocaine from Bulker’s Sea Chest
The police and narcotics units from Turkey’s Ministry of Justice reported a major cocaine seizure recovered by divers examining a sea chest on a bulker docked in the port of Mersin. The port is increasingly becoming a center for drug smuggling, while reports also show that smugglers are increasingly using sea chests to conceal narcotic smuggling.
The Mersin Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and the police reported they were acting on intelligence that a large quantity of narcotics was coming from South America to the port. They were searching vessels coming from South America docked at the port when the divers located the shipment concealed in the sea chest of a bulker docked in Mersin.
Justice Minister Akin Gurley told the media that the vessel was the CSPC Pisces (84,500 dwt). Records indicate that the Chinese-owned bulker, which is registered in Liberia, had departed Brazil and made a stop in Tarragona, Spain, before reaching Turkey on September 11.
The divers recovered 12 large packages from the sea chest with approximately 350 kg of cocaine. The authorities estimated the value at nearly $31 million. They also recovered diving equipment and an underwater sea scooter. Nine people were taken into custody during the investigation believed to have been aiding in the smuggling.
Mersin Cumhuriyet Ba?savc?l??? ile Mersin Emniyet Müdürlü?ü Narkotik Suçlarla Mücadele ?ube Müdürlü?ü’nce düzenlenen operasyonda, Mersin Liman?'na gelen bir gemi içerisinde gizlenmi? halde daral? a??rl??? 350 kg kokain uyu?turucu maddesi ele geçirildi.
— Mersin Emniyet Müdürlü?ü (@EmniyetMersin) September 13, 2026
Emniyet Genel Müdürlü?ü… pic.twitter.com/VBjMnF2Dmk
The discovery comes as the maritime AI intelligence company Windward issued a recent analysis concluding that smugglers were increasingly using the sea chest to conceal smuggling. It found 20 confirmed instances since 2017 while concluding the crew of the vessel are often “unwitting” accomplices. They write that the smugglers favor bulkers and tankers because of their predictable routing and long port calls, which allow divers to recover the smuggled narcotics.
that matters most
Get the latest maritime news delivered to your inbox daily.
Turkish authorities said that Mersin has emerged as an important entry point for cocaine from Latin America. In January, they confiscated nearly 300 kg from a container that was declared to be transporting peanuts from Brazil. Seizures at the port of Mersin totaled 4.1 metric tons of cocaine between 2018 and 2024.
Media reports indicate that the Turkish police seized over three metric tons of cocaine in 2024, up 23 percent versus 2023.
