Crackdown on PKK drug hub results in major seizures

Authorities have stepped up efforts to cut off drug supplies to the PKK terrorist organization, which funds their violent campaign through trafficking narcotics. Over five days, operations jointly conducted by police and troops in Lice, a district in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, saw the seizure of 20.2 million cannabis plants and three tons of hashish, Turkish media reported yesterday. Authorities also seized 10.9 tons of ammonium nitrate, a component in the manufacturing of explosives, and arrested 11 suspects.

Lice, a small district with a population of 25,000, has a slow economy apart from agriculture and livestock breeding, but is known as a hub for PKK-controlled drug production. Officials said 24 military battalions and thousands of police officers took part in the operation named after AbdülselamÖzatak, a lieutenant who was killed in Diyarbakır in February during an operation against the PKK. The PKK, which unilaterally ended a truce with the Turkish authorities last summer, has engaged in armed attacks and car bombings, mostly concentrated in the Southeast, where a largely Kurdish population lives. A manhunt in Lice and its vicinity targeted senior PKK leaders, who are believed to be hiding out in mountainous areas in the district. As of Tuesday soldiers were destroying cannabis fields cultivated by the militants. Bulldozers accompanied the soldiers and police officers from Special Operations units as they advanced to destroy large fields of cannabis. A curfew is imposed in areas where operations are under way.

Security forces discovered 10.9 tons of ammonium nitrate buried in a secluded spot, and 35 handmade explosives were seized during operations. Checkpoints have been set up across the district, and 103 people with arrest warrants were captured. Authorities said the detainees are accused of involvement in the drug trade, as well as aiding and abetting a terrorist organization.

The operations shed light on how the PKK terrorist organization rakes in profit from drug cultivation in Lice. According to an Interior Ministry report, the PKK earns more than $1.5 billion a year from drug production and trafficking.

Following a string of PKK brutal attacks in the Southeast and major cities, questions have been raised about how the small faction, whose leaders hide out in Northern Iraq, finance their bloody operations.

The Interior Ministry report shows that the terrorist group is heavily involved in the drug trade, from the production of narcotics to their delivery, distribution and sales. This"narco-terrorism" brings in massive revenues for the PKK, particularly cannabis production in the Southeast, where the PKK's activities are concentrated.

In July 2013, security forces destroyed around 2 million cannabis plants in Lice in a major counter-narcotics operation. Counter-narcotics operations and tightened security measures have led to a decline in profits from the drug trade. Experts say Lice and the southeastern region are favored for the cultivation of cannabis, because its climate is favorable and because the mountainous terrain hinders easy access by security forces. Although no concrete numbers are available, authorities believe about two-thirds of the illegal cannabis cultivated in Turkey is grown around Diyarbakır.

The Interior Ministry's report says the PKK produces heroin in laboratories in its camps in Northern Iraq and sells the heroin in Europe through supporters on the continent. The annual revenue from cannabis production and sales is around TL 500 million ($170 million), and another $1.5 billion is raked in from drug trafficking. Police have arrested 1,283 suspects and found six drug manufacturing plants in over 350 "narco-terrorism" operations held across the country between 1984 and 2015, according to the report.