PKK’s drug-related activities linked to group’s presence in Europe: Report

ANKARA

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) drug-related activities are linked to the group’s presence in the United Kingdom and Germany, according to a report prepared by the Turkish Parliament’s Drug Addiction Research Commission. 

The drug smugglers are looking for alternatives to Turkey to go about the so-called heroin route, the Turkish commission was told when they went to the U.K. and Germany to gather the report.

However, the delegation also said the link between the drug-selling gangs in Europe and the PKK was confirmed based on the information they said they received in their travels.

The end product—the report—was based on information gathered from the delegation’s visit to several drug-related clinics in the U.K., including Public Health England, the Federation of Drug and Alcohol Practitioners, and the London Security Organization.

The commission also visited the German Ministry of Health to gather more information.

The report also emphasized the PKK’s drug-dealing businesses along the Turkish borders and its links with PKK cells in foreign countries.

Based on the report, nearly three million people used illegal drugs in the U.K. last year and there were around 400,000 addicts in Germany.