THE HAGUE, Jan 20 (AFP) - Dutch police have arrested two alleged members of the outlawed Kurdish separatist group PKK, and a third suspect was arrested in Germany, the national prosecutor's office said Thursday.
"The Kurdistan Workers Party PKK is suspected of using threats, abuse and extortion to get funds for the organisation," the prosecutor's office said.
This week two suspects in the case were arrested in Rotterdam and The Hague. A third suspect was arrested in Germany at the request of the Dutch police.
All three face charges of extortion.
Authorities said a police investigation found that suspected drug dealers were violently forced to pay the PKK, now also known as KONGRA-GEL. Members of the Kurdish community are allegedly also pressured to help the group financially.
The national prosecutors office has received official complaints from a Kurdish businessman who was threatend with bodily harm unless he paid the PKK.
The latest arrests are part of a large-scale probe launched in 2003 into possible criminal activities of the PKK in The Netherlands. Last November, 38 suspected PKK members were arrested on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist organisation.
The PKK waged a bloody 15-year war for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish eastern and southeastern parts of Turkey -- claiming more than 36,000 lives -- before announcing a unilateral ceasefire in 1999. It is on the European Union's list of terrorist organisations.
The group called off the truce in June last year, threatening to carry out attacks and warning tourists and investors to stay away from the country.
Since then, there has been a sharp increase in clashes between the rebels and Turkish government troops.
01/20/2005 11:57 GMT - AFP