High-tech artificial intelligence system ASENA helps fight drug trafficking

Türkiye's indigenously developed Analysis System Narcotics Network (ASENA), a high-tech software using an Artificial Intelligence system, has been serving for the past 14 months as the assistant for the security forces in preventing crime across the country.

ASENA, which harnesses a huge amount of data from a criminal database, helps to detect suspicious activities.

İbrahim Hakkı Seydioğulları, who heads the counter-narcotics department at the General Directorate of Security, told Anadolu Agency that 3,795 crimes, including drug crimes, were uncovered thanks to the software since it was launched in March last year.

The narcotics teams, with their vast experience in fighting drug dealers, gained in the field since 1937, the year of establishment of a separate department within the police, now carry their experience to the digital world, he said.

Developed by Turkish engineers, the software was integrated into other digital systems used by the government, including the databases of UYAP and an e-government system and those used by the Interior Ministry and Justice Ministry in relation to criminal activities.

Noting that the foundations of the project were laid four years ago, Seydioğulları said the system is currently used by 3,100 officers, 650 of whom are fully authorized.

Seydioğulları explained that the personnel using the software are undergoing rigorous training and that every command, question and action within the software is recorded and kept, while the questions to be asked to the system are approved by the central command.

There is also an ASENA special unit of the police counter-narcotics department specialized in crime analysis, he added.

GAP BETWEEN LAW ENFORCEMENT, CRIMINALS

Noting that the Counter-narcotics Police Department serves to bring the police to the same level in terms of versatility as criminals, Seydioğulları said there is a certain imbalance in terms of the fight against crime and crime and criminals, adding that crime and criminals are usually ahead of the police.

"The police's two duties are to prevent crimes and solve them. In the solution department, criminals have more of an advantage and the police have fewer instruments than them," he said, adding that with ASENA, they try to end this and level the playing field.

"We both intervene when drug crimes are committed and use it (software) to illuminate a committed crime or to contribute to ongoing investigations. In this sense, ASENA also acts as prevention. We're trying to narrow the gap between law enforcement and criminals," he added.

He underlined that Türkiye is a critical destination for drug smugglers due to its convenient geographic location.

"This is our fate. We are located on the oldest trade route in the world. Drug crime organizations also seek legal trade routes while carrying out their activities... But we have more advantage now, as the combat performance of law enforcement is enhanced and the number of seizures is increased," said Seydioğulları.

'ASENA LEARNS'

Emphasizing that ASENA is an artificial intelligence software with an infrastructure open to continuous development, Seydioğulları said that it has many features that are not available in analysis systems used all over the world.

While ASENA allows users to manually enter data into the system, it can constantly repeat the instantaneous works, he said.

He went on to say that the data on the methods developed by the criminals were also entered into ASENA.

"Every arrest feeds experience (to ASENA). It learns," Seydioğulları said.
It takes a user to ask a question to the system, which then combs its database and retrieves answers and creates crime profiles. The database reaps information from a vast resource derived from ongoing and past investigations, trial records, defendants' statements, eyewitness accounts and suspects' interrogation records, he added.

ASENA sought answers to about 300 million questions since it was activated in 2021, said Seydioğulları, noting that it takes up to one minute for it to give you a "tangible answer" with an accuracy rate of 92%.
The system solely relies on software rather than hardware for its speed, he said.

Out of some 300 million queries, ASENA revealed 9,020 "risky situations" and helped to shed light on 3,795 criminal activities, he stressed.

Noting that 91% of the uncovered incidents were narcotic crimes, Seydioğulları said that 3,453 uncovered crimes were narcotics-related, and 342 others were matters handled by other police departments due to their features.

He highlighted that out of 300 million inquiries, only 9,020 risky situations ended up as criminal activities.

Though police use the software, they still need to run a judicial process to obtain enough information to produce search and arrest warrants, he said.

BENEFITS OF ASENA

Operations initiated with the use of ASENA helped the police seize over 1.7 tons of heroin, more than 2 tons of cannabis, around 500 kilograms (1,102 pounds) of methamphetamine, about 200 kilograms (nearly 441 pounds) of the synthetic drug "Bonzai," about 22 kilograms (42.5 pounds) of cocaine, 734,000 Captagon pills and nearly 200,000 ecstasy pills, he said.

The software alone also detected 260,000 worth of counterfeit Turkish lira notes as well as $6,500 in fake bills, along with 300,000 Turkish liras (around $17,400) in genuine criminal revenues.

Seydioğulları emphasized that some 890 unlicensed pistols and 11 rifles were also seized thanks to ASENA.

It also helped to discover 42 liters of bootleg alcoholic drinks, some 2 million counterfeit cigarettes, 52 kilograms of explosives and also detected 177 irregular migrants, he added.

Seydioğulları wowed the software "cannot be hacked" since it works on the police intranet system.

He assured that they were ensuring the privacy of the public by not allowing any violations of privacy laws while searching the database, adding that any user found to act contrary to the relevant laws can be subject to dismissal from law enforcement.

Noting that the drug routes intensified in the Balkans and the southern region after the Russia-Ukraine War, Seydioğulları said the drug cartels have recently shifted their shipment route to the south.

ASENA now serves as "deterrence" for drug cartels, he said.

"Once they found out its existence, they started changing their drug smuggling rates. We are waiting to see, though, whether there will be criminals' defiant enough' to commit smuggling while they are aware of the software," he concluded.