ISTANBUL, Jan 20, (Xinhua): Turkish police detained 641 suspects in a large-scale counter-narcotics operation, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Tuesday. The raids were conducted before dawn on Monday at 608 locations in the western province of Izmir and 14 other provinces, involving more than 4,500 police officers and supported by air and naval units as well as specially trained narcotics-detection dogs, Yerlikaya said at a press conference in the capital of Ankara.

He said the operation focused on dismantling street-level drug networks and 95 percent of the detainees were formally arrested. The operation followed nearly four months of intensive surveillance, technical preparations and intelligence work. Police forces tracked the suspects' movements, contacts and distribution methods before launching the coordinated crackdown, said the minister. Türkiye has long been stepping up efforts to combat drug trafficking nationwide.