The amphetamine-type stimulant is largely used by fighters and has made its way to several Middle East countries [Getty/file photo]
A drug empire that thrived under the ousted Syrian regime continues to be uncovered and dismantled after rebels overran buildings used by Bashar al-Assad’s brother.
Several videos have come out of Syria, alleging that they were storages where massive amounts of Captagon were being stashed by Maher al-Assad, the dictator’s brother who led the Syrian army’s elite 4th Armoured Division, and whose whereabouts remain unclear.
News that the mansion belonged to him could not be verified.
In one video, rebels are seen entering what looks like a mansion used as a factory to manufacture the drug. In other footage, people are seen destroying thousands of Captagon pills.
Other companies that acted as fronts for the illicit trade have also been uncovered, including a car firm called Syria Car. When Syrian opposition factions entered the company owned by Hafez Munther al-Assad – Bashar’s cousin’s son – bystanders were shocked to find huge amounts of Captagon that had been dumped outside.
A video showed large amount of pills on the side of the road, and also visible down a drain next to the factory. Â
Captagon is an amphetamine-type stimulant used largely by fighters. For many years, the Assad regime had tried to cover up its complicity in the cross-border trade, and war-ravaged Syria is believed to be behind 80 percent of the drug’s production worldwide.
It was a major source of revenue for the regime, generating billions every year to help prop up the regime, amid rampant poverty in Syria because of the war, mass corruption and sanctions.
Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shia militia in Lebanon that fought alongside Assad’s forces during the Syrian civil war, is also believed to be complicit in the trade, but has always denied this.
Damascus has been heavily sanctioned because of the Captagon trade, and the issue angered many Gulf states, particularly Saudi Arabia, which was a huge market for the drug. Assad vowed to curb production in return for normalisation with Arab states, but never met his promises.
Neighbouring countries like Lebanon and Jordan were affected and had tried to crack down on the trade. The Jordanian air force conducted many strikes inside southern Syrian last year, killing some of the biggest drug kingpins close to Assad’s regime.
The dramatic collapse of the more than 50-year-old Baathist regime in Syria, which came following a lighting rebel offensive which lasted less than two weeks, is expected to put an end to the Captagon trade.
