By Ferdi Turkten
ANKARA
Illegal drug trafficking is the main financial source for terrorist organizations, including the PKK, reveals a report by Turkey's Interior Ministry shown to Anadolu Agency.
The PKK terrorist organization is active in all the phases of drug trafficking including the production, delivery, distribution, and sales, according to the narco-terrorism report.
The PKK reportedly produces heroin in laboratories established in its camps in northern Iraq, and sells it to Europe, the report says, adding members of the terrorist organization are also active in the sale of drugs on European streets.
The terrorist group also makes money from hashish production in the rural areas of the southeastern Diyarbakir province, which has been the scene of ongoing anti-terror operations against PKK.
The annual revenue from cannabis production and sales is around 500 million Turkish liras ($170 million) and separately $1.5 billion from drug trafficking.
The report reveals that the testimony of people arrested in anti-drug operations across Turkey, the documents and drugs seized during such operations "clearly showed links of the PKK to narcotic crimes".
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.
Drugs seized during those operations include:
Some 41,249 kg of hashish, 5,543 kg of heroin, 710 kg of cocaine, 21 kg of opium, 27,465 liters of acetic anhydride, 4,304 kg of morphine base, and nearly 18 million cannabis plants - also known as marijuana.
*Anadolu Agency Correspondent Humeyra Atilgan Buyukovali contributed to this report from Istanbul.
