The Kısmetim-1 incident occurred on December 15, 1992 when members of the Turkish Narcotic Police on

Turkish Navy The Turkish Naval Forces ( tr, ), or Turkish Navy ( tr, ) is the naval warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. The modern naval traditions and customs of the Turkish Navy can be traced back to 10 July 1920, when it was establi ...

vessels supported by US officials intercepted the MV ''Kısmetim-1'', a Turkish ocean freighter in

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

international waters. The ship was suspected of being involved in smuggling of about morphine base into

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. The crew scuttled the ship during the operation. MV ''Kısmetim-1'' was owned by Osman Ayanoğlu. The morphine base on the ship, worth millions of dollars, belonged to a consortium of himself and his partners including Şeyhmus Daş and

Hüseyin Baybaşin Hüseyin Baybaşin (born 25 December 1956) is a Kurdish drug trafficker. He is currently serving life sentence in the Netherlands convicted of murder, drug smuggling and other charges. Rise to leadership of a drug empire In 1976, he was appreh ...

, all Turkish

drug lord A drug lord, drug baron, kingpin or narcotrafficker is a high-ranking crime boss who controls a sizable network of people involved in the illegal drug trade. Such figures are often difficult to bring to justice, as they are normally not directly ...

Voyage

MV ''Kısmetim-1'' departed on October 7, 1991 from the Port of Yarımca in

İzmit İzmit () is a district and the central district of Kocaeli province, Turkey. It is located at the Gulf of İzmit in the Sea of Marmara, about east of Istanbul, on the northwestern part of Anatolia. As of the last 31/12/2019 estimation, the c ...

, carrying dyestuff to

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. As the ship docked at the destination port, Celal Kambur, the ship's purser started a conversation with the port policeman Yousuf Chacha. The Pakistani policeman asked the Turkish crew member to deliver a package to

Ajman Ajman ( ar, عجمان, '; Gulf Arabic: عيمان ʿymān) is the capital of the emirate of Ajman in the United Arab Emirates. It is the fifth-largest city in UAE after Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Al Ain. Located along the Persian Gulf, it is ...

, a port in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

(UAE). The package contained

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...

at a price of US$1.00 per gram. Soon after leaving the

Port of Karachi The Port of Karachi ( ur, , ''Bandar gāh Karāchī'') is one of South Asia's largest and busiest deep-water seaports, handling about 60% of the nation's cargo (25 million tons per annum) located in Karachi, Pakistan. It is located on the Karac ...

, the captain received a radio message saying that the ship's owner Osman Ayanoğlu was ambushed and murdered. On the way to Port of Ajman before dawn, the captain ordered to pickup goods from a motorboat on high sea, which docked the ship. More than 100 sacks were pulled up into the ship in the darkness. The captain told the crew that the sacks contained

nuclear material Nuclear material refers to the metals uranium, plutonium, and thorium, in any form, according to the IAEA. This is differentiated further into "source material", consisting of natural and depleted uranium, and "special fissionable material", con ...

for the MKE. The ship arrived in Ajman to unload fertilizer. Celal Kambur met the Pakistani drug dealer and received the money in a restaurant. The delivery of the drug package took place at 23:00 local time the same day by throwing to a boat, which pulled alongside the ship. The next morning, police raid the ship and found the money of US$10,000 from the drug trade on Celal Kambur. He was tried and found guilty for the drug crime. The ship moored at the port for six months during the trial and was only allowed to leave as the trial ended, and Celal Kambur was put into prison. Celal Kambur served his heavy prison sentence and was pardoned after nine years by the emir of Ajman, one of the seven emirates of the UAE federation.

Operation

Since its departure from Karachi, the ship was under close surveillance by the United States

DEA The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S. It is the lead agency for domestic enf ...

, which was forwarding all the relevant information to the Turkish Police. The incident in Ajman was very disappointing for the US and Turkish law enforcement services since they feared the main smuggle would have been revealed. Finally, the ship passed through the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...

and sailed into the Mediterranean Sea. Three Turkish Navy warships, the frigate TCG ''Yıldırım'' (F 243), the destroyer TCG ''Savaştepe'' (D 348), the submarine rescue ship TCG ''Akın'' (A 585) and the US destroyer USS ''Briscoe'' (DD-977) carrying Turkish and US narcotic policemen as well as maritime patrol aircraft of type

P-3 Orion The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engined, turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner. The operation was led on site by

Necdet Menzir Necdet Menzir (1945 in Bursa – 2 February 2013) was a Turkish bureaucrat and politician who served as Minister of Transport from 1997 to 1998, having been Istanbul Chief of Police (1992–1995). He died from respiratory failure at an Istanbul ...

, director of Istanbul Police Department and Mestan Şener, head of the narcotics bureau.

Mehmet Ağar Mehmet Kemal Ağar (born on 30 October 1951) is a Turkish former police chief, politician, government minister and leader of the Democratic Party. He was a police officer who rose to General Director of the General Directorate of Security (effect ...

, director general of the Turkish Police and Ismet Sezgin, minister of interior, were in command of the operation.

Aftermath

Şeyhmus Daş was shot to death on December 25, 1992 in Istanbul in his car when he was on the way to a wedding ceremony along with his wife and two daughters. The killing occurred ten days after the Kısmetim-1 incident and two weeks before the

Lucky-S incident The ''Lucky-S'' incident occurred on January 7, 1993, when Turkish Navy vessels, carrying members of the Turkish Narcotic Police, intercepted the MV ''Lucky-S'', a Turkish ocean freighter in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea. The ship ...

, another drug smuggling operation on the sea. Nejat Daş, son of Şeyhmus Daş, who had carried out the drug trade negotiations in Karachi on behalf of his father, was tried at the 2nd State Security Court (DGM) in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

and found guilty of

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via insuffla ...

. He was charged with 5 years and 10 months of heavy prison sentence. He escaped the prison on November 8, 1994, as he was brought from

Sinop Fortress Prison Sinop Fortress Prison ( tr, Sinop Kale Cezaevi) was a state prison situated in the inside of the Sinop Fortress in Sinop, Turkey. As one of the oldest prisons of Turkey, it was established in 1887 within the inner fortress of the centuries-old f ...

to the 1st DGM in Istanbul for trial due to his involvement in the

In popular culture

Turkish TV series

Valley of the Wolves ''Valley of the Wolves'' ( tr, Kurtlar Vadisi) is a Turkish media franchise created by Osman Sınav, which has obtained high ratings for the television series and one of the highest box office returns in the history of the Turkish cinema for ...

use this incident.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kismetim-1 Incident 1992 in Turkey Cargo ships of Turkey International maritime incidents Maritime incidents in 1992 Shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea Law enforcement in Turkey History of the Mediterranean Scuttled vessels December 1992 events in Europe

Voyage

Operation

Aftermath

In popular culture

See also

References