Since regime leader Bashar Assad fled Syria on Dec. 8, 2024, after his quarter-century brutal rule, numerous stories of his barbarism have appeared in the media, offering accounts of the toxic nature of Syrian politics under him. The stories of Assad’s rule are not only about the death of thousands through torture and starvation, but it is also about how he ran a multibillion-dollar drug empire for his own economic embellishment and political survival.

The principal drug that flourished under him was Captagon and around 80% of the world production of this "poor men's drug," or cocaine of the poor as it is commonly known, takes place in Syria alone. While the anti-regime fighters took over the capital city of Damascus, they not only raided the prisons but also raided several Captagon production units and seized millions of pills. Some of the Captagon units were run and overseen from the villas, disguised as potato chips factories, belonging to Assad’s younger brother, Maher Assad and his cohorts.

The horrible stories emerging from Syria should not surprise anyone. Drug trafficking has been one of the major sources of revenue for the oligarchs and terrorist organizations to raise funds for weapons and expand their bases. The PKK terrorist group is no exception. There is much to say about how its drug empire spread across the continents and has sustained the terrorist movement for decades. Therefore, in this piece, I will focus on how its drug market has expanded over the decades and what has been the routes of drug transactions. In the following piece, I will explain the methods and mechanism of the utilization of the revenues generated through this illicit trade and how, over the decade, the PKK's Syrian wing YPG has helped the growth of this drug industry in the region.

Drugs across continents

The PKK has a long history of engagement with criminal enterprises. Many organizations such as Interpol, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) have published several documents detailing the PKK’s involvement in criminal activities as it has always played a significant role in the trafficking and smuggling of drugs, human and weapons.

The leadership of the PKK has developed an advanced system to carry out these criminal ventures. Its operatives and sympathizers play a significant role in the distribution of drugs in Turkish metropolitans such as Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana and Mersin. The organization has survived the shifting geological circumstances primarily because of its drug financing mechanism.

Since the 1980s, the PKK has been involved in the large-scale illicit drug trade and they trade drugs like marijuana, heroin, hashish, coca ecstasy tablets, anhydride, morphine base, opium and cannabis plants. They export these drugs to neighboring countries in Asia, Europe and as far as Africa. The large-scale and well-coordinated transaction in these drugs helps the PKK raise billions of dollars annually. According to a retired official of the Turkish Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction, the PKK receives $1 billion to 3 billion from this illicit trade annually.

Over the years, thousands of PKK-linked drug traffickers have been arrested by the Turkish authorities. Between 2016-23, the authorities have been able to stop around $20 billion in evasion of revenue through the confiscation of a huge consignment of drugs. Meanwhile, the PKK is also reported to have encouraged the smuggling of all types of goods to circumvent taxation by the government of the day.

PKK’s narcoterrorism routes

The PKK’s involvement in drugs increased qualitatively and quantitively throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The organization gradually took control over the illicit trade in Türkiye’s southeastern part, which borders Iran and Iraq. Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the PKK, confessed in 1999 that all drug traders in the southeast Türkiye paid tribute to the PKK. In successive years, drug money emerged as a lifesaver for the organization, which was under severe economic stress because of the extreme security measures put in place after the coup of 1980.

Their bases in northern Iraq and northeastern Syria are strategically located between the lush poppy fields of Central Asia, East Asia and the vast markets of Europe. The long lifespan of the PKK has allowed it to set up advanced financial networks in Iran, Iraq, Türkiye, Syria, the Caucasus, the Balkan and European countries. The organization also maintains strict control over drug trafficking in these countries. They seek the support of local crime organizations from countries like Albania and Bulgaria to expand their enterprise. Members of drug cartels from Iran and Georgia cooperate with the PKK as well on the Caucasus route to transport the drug further. They have developed a close network with multiple organizations from Afghanistan and Iran, which deliver heroin to the PKK-connected networks in Türkiye and subsequently market them in European countries.

The traffickers from other countries are required to pay the PKK for carrying drugs into Türkiye. A report by the UNODC suggests that traffickers have to make payments to the PKK to cross the border and also pay the fee for entering Europe to PKK cadres who are active on European soil. If any group is found to be trading in drugs without prior permission from the PKK, they are fined and punished and they extend all sorts of protection to those involved in it.

The PKK has created sub-structures and cell-type economic intelligence units to exploit the transborder trade opportunities and it has also been able to eliminate the rival groups from the criminal realm. Many of the PKK members who have sought asylum in the EU are reported to have joined the PKK-run drug networks operating between Türkiye and Europe. The PKK has deceived and abused Kurdish diaspora networks to add some recruits to be used in drug-related activities. The PKK’s drug network runs through Iraq's Sulaymaniyah province to Kirkuk and Makhmur and then across the border to Rojava in northeastern Syria, where the PKK/YPG carries it further to other parts of the region.

The PKK reportedly earns $1.5 billion annually only through its drug trade within Europe and around 80% of the illicit drug markets in Europe are filled by the PKK-controlled trafficking networks, as reported by Interpol. The marketing of 40% of heroin in Europe is taken care of by the PKK alone.

The Turkish National Police’s Anti-Narcotics Department’s 2024 report suggests that a significant part of money earned through drugs in and outside of Türkiye is used to finance the terrorist activities of the PKK. The report also suggested that 12 of the world’s largest terrorist organizations are involved in drug trafficking, and the PKK happens to be one of them.