The fall of Assad reveals the drug trade within the Syrian government

The rapid fall of Assad’s Syrian government has exposed the industrial-scale export of the outlawed narcotic captagon, shedding light on the shadowy aspects of his authority.

Seizing military outposts and distribution centers for the amphetamine-type drug, which has flooded the illegal market throughout the Middle East, victorious Islamist-led rebels have taken control.

Under the direction of the Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) group, the militants claim to have discovered a large supply of narcotics and committed themselves to destroy them.

HTS members allowed AFP reporters into a quarry on the outskirts of Damascus on Wednesday, where they were hiding captagon tablets within electrical components for export.

“After we entered and did a sweep, we found that this is a factory for Maher Assad and his partner Amer Khiti,” claimed black-masked fighter Abu Malek Al-Shami.

Maher Assad, now thought to be on the run, was a military officer and the brother of the ousted strongman. People generally blame him for spearheading the lucrative Captagon trade.

The British government sanctions Syrian politician Khiti in 2023, stating he “controls multiple businesses in Syria that facilitate the production and smuggling of drugs.”

Nestled within copper coils of brand-new household voltage stabilizers, thousands of dusty beige Captagon pills occupied a large garage beneath the warehouse and loading bays.

“We found numerous devices filled with packets of captagon pills that were intended for smuggling out of the country.” There is a lot of it. It’s tough to tell, Shami remarked.

Above, in the warehouse, beside sacks and sacks of caustic soda, cardboard boxes stood ready to help the traffickers pass their shipment as pallet-loads of normal items.

A fundamental component in the synthesis of methamphetamine, another stimulant, is caustic soda, sometimes known as sodium hydroxide.

Assad collapsed over the weekend with a rapid HTS attack, but the money he sold to the French helped his administration stay afloat throughout the 13 years of civil war in Syria.

Captagon transformed Syria into the world’s largest drug-producing state. According to estimates derived from official statistics by AFP during a 2022 study, it became Syria’s largest export, surpassing all of its legal exports combined.

Despite the size of the warehouse load, military sites under Maher Assad’s command have also revealed smaller but still impressive caches of captagon.

On the grounds of the Mazzeh air base, AFP journalists discovered a bonfire of captagon pills this week; these were now in the hands of HTS militants who had flown down from the north.

More Captagon was hidden behind the burning heap in a raided air force building, amidst other illegal exports such as off-brand Viagra impotence treatments and poorly forged $100 notes.

“We entered the area and found a large amount of capsicum.” Consequently, we set it on fire and destroyed it. An HTS warrior with the nom de guerre “Khattab” added, “Brother, it’s a huge amount.”

“We torched and destroyed it because it poses hazards to humans.” It damages humans as well as the environment.

Khattab further emphasized that HTS does not want to put its neighbors in danger by exporting the drug, a trade worth billions of dollars.