Turkey seizes 5.5M cannabis plants
The gendarmerie forces seized the cannabis and 63 kilograms of hashish in an operation targeting the PKK in Lice district of Diyarbakir.
Security forces destroy cannabis fields during an operation in Diyarbakir, Turkey on June 26, 2016.
Turkish security forces confiscated nearly 5.5 million cannabis plants, officials said on Wednesday.
In a statement, the Diyarbakir governorship said local gendarmerie commando units carried out operations targeting the PKK group in 72 different addresses in Lice district between June 30 and July 2.
In addition to 5.43 million cannabis plants, 63 kilogrammes of hashish were also seized in the operation.
Fifteen caves used by the terrorists were also destroyed during the three-day operation.
Turkey, the US and the EU recognise the PKK as a terrorist organisation.
In its 30-year terror campaign against the Turkish state, more than 40,000 people, including women and children, have been killed.
The drug trade is a major revenue source for the PKK's terror operations.
In Europe, the PKK controls 80 percent of the drug trade, reaping some $1.5 billion a year, according to Turkey's Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu.
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