From: Hurriyet Daily News
Smuggled cigarettes arrive in Turkey from Georgia, northern Iraq and Bulgaria, while there are large sums of money being transferred from the eastern parts of Turkey to Istanbul in line with smuggling activities, according to recent data from Turkey’s financial crime investigation board (MASAK), daily Milliyet has reported.
Additionally, close ties were detected between some of the smugglers and extensions of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Europe, according to the report.
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The inspectors learned the intermediary firm also played a role in transferring money through the European extensions of the PKK to their cadres in the northern Iraq, according to the report.
