Organised crime groups run by ethnic Kurds, operating mainly in Western Asia, Europe, North America, and Afghanistan. Their primary activities include drug and arms trafficking, contract killing, and migrant smuggling. Some groups have been accused of funneling profits to the PKK. The mafia has historical roots in banditry during and after World War I.
CRIMENET has extracted 12 linkages for this organization, including 9 cooperative ties across 7 organizations, 3 conflicts across 2 organizations and footprints in 5 countries.
Afghanistan was a stronghold of the Kurdish mafia. Kurdish criminals smuggled opiates from Afghanistan into Iranian Kurdistan... The Taliban supplied the Kurdish mafia with opiates in exchange for a tax...
In late 2022, the Kurdish mafia had several camps in Calais, which they used to house the migrants they smuggled.
Kurdish mafia gangs in Germany were also reported to extort German businessmen, making them pay a tax every month in exchange for protection...
The Kurdish mafia is also active in Sweden, heavily involved in the drug trade but also bombings, assassinations, robberies, and assaults.
In Nashville, Tennessee, during the 1990s and 2000s, Kurdish organised criminals began operating in the city.