Every night, 22-year-old Sevda would take the same road to the Turkish town of Hacipasa, separated from Syria by a thin river. Hacipasa is best known as a home to smugglers. The town reeks of oil.

Sevda would smuggle the stuff across the river.

"It comes from Syria, they bring it across the river," she explained. "They take it to their village, store it in their homes. And we go to their houses and get it from them."

Turkish soldiers recently discovered how smugglers like Sevda did their work, moving the oil across the river in jerry cans and then transporting it in vans or in secret gas tanks inside buses.

"We would construct a gas tank and make it bigger so it could hold 35, 40, 45, 50 gallons," she said. "If there was no army, you could make good money."

Sevda said she earned $400 or $900 or even $1,300 for a ton of oil. If she lugged over 10 tons, she could make $10,000 a night.

"Depends on how good you are," she said.

Hacipasa isn't friendly to outsiders "unless you come to buy diesel," Sevda remarked. After we filmed the jerry cans, smugglers stopped our car. It was only after Sevda negotiated on our behalf that they let us go.