[1] Some of the Kurds living in the villages in the mountainous areas of the Marash Sanjak, especially in the towns of Elbistan and Pazarcık, formed bandit gangs and put the regional public order in a difficult situation.
[2] Towards the end of the First World War, in 1917 and 1918, the activities of bandits brought the commercial and economic life in the sanjak and the towns to a standstill.
[4][5] The Kurdish mafia smuggles weapons and hard drugs all across Europe, and Süleyman Soylu accused them of making over US$1.5 billion per year for the PKK.
[6] A British police report revealed that the Tottenham Boys, a Kurdish gang from London, did funnel their profits to the PKK.
[8] The Kurdish mafia also patrolled the Iran–Turkey border from both sides, and charged Afghan migrants a fee to be smuggled into Turkish cities, including Istanbul.
[20] The Kurdish mafia is also active in Sweden, heavily involved in the drug trade but also bombings, assassinations, robberies, and assaults.
[25][26] Kurdish mafia gangs in Germany were also reported to extort German businessmen, making them pay a tax every month in exchange for protection, and even threatening police saying "we outnumber you."