Gendarmerie units searched 89 locations in the Bağlan and Kabakaya rural areas of Lice district in Diyarbakır province on 22 June 2020, in an operation the governorship said was aimed at PKK-linked drug trafficking.[1] They confiscated and destroyed 7.5 million cannabis roots along with more than 1,600 kilograms of cannabis, plus 8,400 metres of water pipe and six water engines used to irrigate the crop.[1][2] The authorities called it the largest amount of cannabis seized in a single operation in the previous four years.[1]

One suspect who dropped the drugs he was carrying while trying to flee was arrested, according to the agency account; a second report on the same sweep puts the number of arrests at two.[1][2] The governorship linked the crop to the financing of the PKK, which Türkiye, the US and the EU list as a terrorist organisation.[1]