ASENA, short for "Analysis System Narcotics Network" in Turkish, is the national security forces’ new assistant in preventing crime. The locally developed software harnesses thousands of pieces of data from a criminal database and employs artificial intelligence (AI) to detect suspicious activities.

Since it was launched some 14 months ago, it has helped police uncover 3,795 crimes. Though its main purpose is to prevent narcotics-related offenses, ASENA (also the name of a she-wolf in Turkic mythology) has proven useful in stopping other crimes as well, with police netting unlicensed weapons and illegally sold goods with its help.

İbrahim Seydioğulları, head of the Counternarcotics Department of the Turkish National Police, says it is building on its vast experience gained in the field since being established as a separate department within the police in 1937. Asena, indeed, is the name of a special unit of the police counternarcotics department specialized in crime analysis.

The software was developed by Turkish engineers and was integrated into other digital systems used by the government, including the databases of an e-government system and those used by the Interior Ministry and Justice Ministry in relation to criminal activities, such as UYAP or the National Judiciary Informatics System – a nationwide network and database connecting different branches of judiciary.

It was first conceived four years ago but it was in March 2021 that the police were able to fully access ASENA after completing the testing phases. Currently, some 3,100 Turkish National Police personnel use the software.

Seydioğulları told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Thursday that every user undergoes training to use the system and once they have access to it, every movement on the system is recorded and kept, from queries to processes they run. A central command unit oversees its use.

"It basically serves to bring the police to the same level (in terms of versatility) as criminals. There is a certain imbalance in terms of the fight against crime and crime and criminals. Crime, 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. With ASENA, we try to end this, to level the playing field. It works both ways. It prevents drug-related crimes while they are being committed and contributes to solving the crimes and earlier investigations," he said.

Turkey is a favorite destination for drug smugglers due to its convenient location sandwiched between Asia and Europe. All types of drugs change hands along the Turkish route between two continents. "This is our fate. We are in a critical place. But we have more advantage now, as the performance of law enforcement is enhanced and the number of seizures is increased," Seydioğulları says.

ASENA maintains an infrastructure open to development and along with standard data analysis patterns, it allows users to manually enter data into the system. An essential component of the system is data entry on "tactics" criminals devise to avoid detection by police. "Every seizure, arrest feeds experience (to ASENA). It learns," Seydioğulları says.

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. "It sought answers to about 300 million questions since it was activated. It takes up to one minute for it to give you a tangible answer," he says. Seydioğulları noted that the system solely relies on software rather than hardware for its speed.

Out of some 300 million queries, it helped flag 9,020 "risky situations" and eventually, it helped shed light on 3,795 criminal activities. "Not all risky situations end up as criminal activities. Though we use the software, we still need to run a judicial process, to obtain enough information to produce search and arrest warrants," Seydioğulları said. The majority of uncovered crimes were narcotics-related while 342 others were handled by other branches of police due to their nature.

Operations benefiting from the use of the software helped the police seize more than 1.7 tons of heroin, 2.5 tons of cannabis, nearly half a ton of methamphetamine, about 200 kilograms of the synthetic drug "bonzai," about 22 kilograms of cocaine, 734,000 Captagon pills and nearly 200,000 ecstasy pills. It also detected TL 260,000-worth of counterfeit lira notes as well as $6,500 in fake dollar bills, along with TL 300,000 in genuine criminal revenues. Some 890 unlicensed pistols and 11 rifles were also seized thanks to the software. Elsewhere, it helped discover 42 liters of bootleg alcoholic drinks, some 2 million counterfeit cigarettes, 52 kilograms of explosives and also detected 177 irregular migrants.

Authorities also have faith in the security of the system. Seydioğulları says the system 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 violating these laws can be subject to dismissal from law enforcement.

Seydioğulları says ASENA now serves as "deterrence" for drug cartels. "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."