16 gold coins stamped with Daesh's name seized in northwest Turkey

Turkish security forces seized 16 gold coins stamped with Daesh terror group's name in a counter-terrorism operation in northwestern Sakarya province Tuesday.

The counterterrorism branch of the Sakarya Security Directorate seized the coins in a raid on a house belonging to a Daesh suspect who was previously detained.

The suspect was detained along with one other suspect in an operation conducted on March 5 within the scope of a probe launched by the Sakarya Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.

Meanwhile, in ongoing operations in 17 provinces across the country, some 27 Daesh suspects were detained, while 17 of them were later arrested by the court.

Turkish security forces have been involved in a long-running campaign to rid Turkey of Daesh terrorists. The terrorist group is blamed for a string of terror attacks in Turkey that killed dozens of people over the past three years in Istanbul and Ankara as well as cities in the southeast.

Foreigners looking to join Daesh in Syria have mostly attempted to use Turkey as their crossing point. Turkey has taken significant measures against foreign Daesh members and has urged Western countries for intelligence cooperation.

According to official figures, some 2,000 people were arrested and 7,000 others deported in operations against Daesh in Turkey, while around 70,000 people were denied entry to Turkey over their suspected links to the terrorist group.

Security forces have also foiled at least 10 attack plots. Figures show that some 18,500 suspects are currently being monitored for links to the terrorist group after being identified at airports upon arrival.

Military operations in Syria and Iraq led to a rapid decline in Daesh territories and the number of its militants. Turkey helped the Syrian moderate opposition, the Free Syrian Army (FSA), to regain control of a number of Daesh-controlled towns in an operation in 2016.