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Syrian Captagon industry

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127 bags of Captagon seized in Syria before being destroyed in May 2018

The Syrian Captagon industry is responsible for about 80% of the global production of the Captagon drug. Syria exports the drug to various countries, mainly in the Middle East region, including Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Gulf states, and Egypt. The drug export was one of the main sources of income for the government of Bashar al-Assad, helping it to prop up the economy during the Syrian Civil War.[1][2][3]

Based on 2023 estimates, about 80% of Captagon is produced in Syria and exported from the port of Latakia with the assistance of the Syrian government under the command of Maher al-Assad.[4] Estimates suggest that the Captagon trade market ranges from $5.7 billion to $57 billion.[5][6] Over the years, hundreds of millions of Captagon pills have been smuggled into Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Gulf countries. One of the main smuggling routes is through the Anbar province, which borders Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. In 2021, more than 250 million Captagon pills were seized worldwide, 18 times more than the number of pills seized in 2017.[7] Additionally, according to Al Jazeera, in 2022, Jordan seized 65 million Captagon pills in Syria en route to its territory. In 2015, the Secretary of Saudi Arabia's National Committee for Drug Control reported that the majority of Captagon consumers are aged 12 to 22.[8]

After the fall of the Assad regime the new Syrian transitional government ordered the cessation of the drug trade; the flow had reportedly reduced by at least 90% shortly before Assad's overthrow.[9]

Background

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During the Syrian Civil War, the Assad regime ramped up mass production of drugs within Syria, including fenethylline, commonly referred to as "Captain Courage" by officers who distributed it to their troops.[10] Since at least 2006, Syria had been a significant producer of fenethylline, with several shipments—each containing millions of pills or tonnes of amphetamines—seized in various countries.[11]

Exports

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One of the largest drug seizures occurred in a Palermo port in July 2020, when the Italian police seized more than 84 million Captogen tablets worth a billion dollars, shipped from the Syrian port of Latakia, leading to international outcry. The case was tied to Camorra Mafia, a crime syndicate based in Naples.[12][13][14][15]

The New York Times reported in December 2021 that the 4th Armoured Division, commanded by Maher al-Assad, oversees much of the production and distribution of Captagon, among other drugs, reinforcing Syria's status as a narco-state on the Mediterranean sea. The unit controls manufacturing facilities, packing plants, and smuggling networks all across Syria (which have started to also move crystal meth). The division's security bureau, headed by Maj. Gen. Ghassan Bilal, provides protection for factories and along smuggling routes to the port city Latakia and to border crossings with Jordan and Lebanon.[16] The captagon industry is also supported by the Iran-backed Shia fundamentalist group Hezbollah.[17] Overall, $5.7 billion worth of Captagon exports from Syria were seized across the world in 2021.[18][19] Southern Europe, North Africa, Turkey and the Gulf States are the major destinations of Syria's drug exports.[20] Police officers and security experts calculate that seized captagon constitute merely around 5-10% of total exports originating from Syria in 2021, indicating the presence of a thriving drug industry worth at least 57 billion dollars, an amount ten times greater than the regime's yearly budget.[21]

In January 2022, the Jordanian military killed 27 drug smugglers who attempted to infiltrate via the Syrian border. 17,000 packets of hashish and 17 million Captagon pills were busted during the first quarter of 2022, a figure much higher than during the whole of 2021. Sources from the Jordanian army revealed that the drug trade is financed by a well-funded network of armed militias. In May 2022, the Jordanian government accused Iran of launching a "drug war" against the country, through its Khomeinist proxy militias based in Syria's southern regions. Officials in the Jordanian army described the rise in drug smuggling as part of an "undeclared war" waged to subvert "families, morals and values".[22][23][24][25]

In March 2022, international drug lord Bruno Carbone, leader of the Camorra syndicate, was captured by the Syrian Salvation Government and extradited to Italy by November.[26][27]

In May 2023, Jordanian airforce launched its first ever airstrikes targeting a building in Shuaib village of As-Suwayda Governorate, killing Marai al-Ramthan, a major drug kingpin in the country who co-ordinated the captagon trafficiking operations. Another round of air attacks struck a major drug factory in the Daraa Governorate.[28][29] In June 2024, Jordan thwarted two smuggling attempts, seizing a total of 9.5 million Captagon pills, including 3.1 million pills were intercepted at the Al Omari border crossing with Saudi Arabia, while an additional 1.5 million pills and 143 kg of hashish were seized in the northern city of Ar-Ramtha at the Syrian borders.[30]

In May 2023, a summit was held in Jeddah where the Arab League countries reached an agreement on normalization with Syria and lifting the embargo on it following the civil war in Syria, in exchange for suppressing Captagon smuggling from it to other countries in the region, which leads to increased drug consumption among young people, in turn leading to severe damage.[31]

In January 2024, Syria allowed Jordan to attack drug smugglers within its territory several times, who were smuggling drugs to Jordan. The attacks focused mainly on the As-Suwayda Governorate in southwestern Syria. In some cases, civilians were killed in the attacks, which raised local criticism of the government for not doing enough to stop the smuggling phenomenon and forcing Jordan to take military action there.[32]

Post-Assad regime findings

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Following the end of the regime in December that year, the Captagon factories were found in various areas across Syria, especially in regions controlled by the Assad regime, including areas like Daraa, Douma, Al-Dimas and Yaafour, along the borders with Lebanon. Some of these facilities are reportedly operated by regime-affiliated militias and military units.[33][34] Subsequently, the Syrian transitional government burned 1 million Captagon pills discovered in a security compound previously controlled by Assad's forces in the Kafr Sousa district of the capital.[35]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "What is Captagon, the addictive drug mass-produced in Syria?". Al Jazeera. 12 December 2024 [Original version published 9 May 2023].
  2. ^ "Drug that makes Syrian regime millions trafficked through Europe, report says". POLITICO. 2023-09-13. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  3. ^ "A little white pill, Captagon, gives Syria's Assad a strong tool in winning over Arab states". AP News. 2023-06-09. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  4. ^ "Tackling the illicit drug trade fuelling Assad's war machine". GOV.UK. 28 March 2023.
  5. ^ Kachmar, Oleh (2022-04-05). "The Captagon Threat: A Profile of Illicit Trade, Consumption, and Regional Realities". New Lines Institute. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  6. ^ Mustafa Abu Sneineh (31 March 2023). "Why does the UK think Syria has a $57bn captagon industry?". Middle East Eye.
  7. ^ "פשיעת הסמים: כך הפך הקפטגון למקור ההכנסה העיקרי של אסד וברוני הבקעא". www.makorrishon.co.il. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  8. ^ "הפתוות מלמדות: הסם קפטגון הגיע לכל בית בעולם הערבי". הארץ (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  9. ^ Oweis, Khaled Yacoub; Tollast, Robert (2024-12-09). "Captagon flows that enriched Assad regime in Syria come to 'near-full halt'". The National.
  10. ^ "Syria has become a narco-state". The Economist. 2021-07-19. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  11. ^ "World Drug Report 2009" (PDF). United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. 2009. p. 127.
  12. ^ "The Syrian Economy at War: Captagon, Hashish, and the Syrian Narco-State". COAR. 27 April 2021. Archived from the original on 2 February 2022.
  13. ^ Rose, Söderholm, Caroline, Alexander (April 2022). "The Captagon Threat: A Profile of Illicit Trade, Consumption, and Regional Realities" (PDF). New Lines Institute. pp. 26, 27. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 April 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ "Is the Syrian Regime the World's Biggest Drug Dealer?". Vice World News. 14 December 2022. Archived from the original on 15 December 2022.
  15. ^ Fox, Tessa (10 August 2020). "The Islamic State Isn't Behind Syria's Amphetamine Trade". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 11 August 2020.
  16. ^ Hubbard, Ben; Saad, Hwaida (5 December 2021). "On Syria's Ruins, a Drug Empire Flourishes". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-29 – via NYTimes.com.
  17. ^ Behram Özdemir, Ömer (2022). "Illegal Financing and Security of Militia Logistics". Iran-Backed Militia in Syria: Profiles and Functions. Orsam. p. 303.
  18. ^ Lister, Charles (29 April 2022). "We cannot ignore Syria's emergence as a narco-state". Middle East Institute. Archived from the original on 29 April 2022.
  19. ^ Rose, Söderholm, Caroline, Alexander (April 2022). "The Captagon Threat: A Profile of Illicit Trade, Consumption, and Regional Realities" (PDF). New Lines Institute. pp. 2–39. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 April 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  20. ^ Rose, Söderholm, Caroline, Alexander (April 2022). "The Captagon Threat: A Profile of Illicit Trade, Consumption, and Regional Realities" (PDF). New Lines Institute. pp. 2–39. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 April 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  21. ^ Lister, Charles (9 January 2023). "Monday Briefing: Assad's narco-state enriches itself as Syrians face a spiraling economic and humanitarian crisis". Middle East Institute. Archived from the original on 9 January 2023.
  22. ^ Knell, Yolande (18 April 2022). "Captagon: Jordan's undeclared war against Syria drug traffickers". BBC News. Archived from the original on 18 April 2022.
  23. ^ "Jordanian army says it killed 27 drug smugglers from Syria". BBC News. 27 January 2022. Archived from the original on 1 February 2022.
  24. ^ Lister, Charles (29 April 2022). "We cannot ignore Syria's emergence as a narco-state". Middle East Institute. Archived from the original on 3 May 2022.
  25. ^ Al-Khalidi, Suleiman (24 May 2022). "Jordan says Iran-linked groups in Syria wage drug war along border". Reuters. Archived from the original on 4 June 2022.
  26. ^ "Italy arrests drug trafficker captured in Syria". Arab News. 15 November 2022. Archived from the original on 15 November 2022.
  27. ^ Ibrahim, Hassan (30 November 2022). "Handing over Italian mafia boss:Handing over Italian mafia boss: Tahrir al Sham's "security assurances" to West Tahrir al-Sham's "security assurances" to West". Enab Baladi. Archived from the original on 6 December 2022.
  28. ^ Mrou, Chehayeb, Bassem, Kareem (8 May 2023). "Airstrikes kill well-known Syrian drug kingpin". AP News. Archived from the original on 8 May 2023.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  29. ^ "Jordan behind attack that killed drug trafficker in Syria: SOHR". Al Jazeera. 8 May 2023. Archived from the original on 9 May 2023.
  30. ^ Oweis, Khaled Yacoub (5 June 2024). "Jordan intercepts millions of Captagon pills bound for Saudi Arabia". The National News.
  31. ^ "מחאות, סמים, אלימות ותקיפות ישראליות: סוריה בצל הנורמליזציה האזורית עם אסד". www.inss.org.il. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  32. ^ ארי, ליאור בן (2024-01-18). "ירדן מפציצה מבריחי סמים בסוריה, שם מוחים נגד המשטר: "הסוחר נמצא בארמון הנשיאות"". Ynet (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  33. ^ "Syrian rebels seize vast haul of banned drug Captagon, country's largest export". The Guardian. 13 December 2024.
  34. ^ Magnay, Diana (18 December 2024). "Syria: Inside the drug factories that bankrolled Assad's narco state". Sky News.
  35. ^ "Syria authorities say torched 1 million captagon pills". France 24. 25 December 2024.
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