New particulars of infamous Captagon drug commerce uncovered with collapse of Syria’s Assad regime

Damascus — In a distant nook exterior Damascus, Syria, a now deserted potato chip manufacturing unit reveals one of many many darkish however open secrets and techniques of the ousted regime of Bashar al-Assad.

A CBS Information crew gained entry to the location, discovering a storeroom lined with hydrochloric acid and acetic acid on an industrial scale, that are precursor chemical compounds wanted to make Captagon, one of the widespread road medication within the Center East and past.

Ahmed Abu Yakin is with Syria’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, one of many primary teams accountable for the nation after Assad fled on Dec. 8. Yakin says this huge underground stash of Captagon was discovered simply days after the insurgent group’s takeover. The drugs stuffed into giant stacks of family volt regulator kits prepared for cargo.

Sometimes called “poor man’s cocaine,” Captagon is a extremely addictive amphetamine-type stimulant.

“We really feel dangerous for the younger individuals who had been hooked on it,” Yakin mentioned. “The Assad regime was destroying a era and could not care much less. They solely cared about creating wealth.”

And that cash is staggering. Analysts estimate the Assad regime raked in $5 billion per yr from the commerce, dwarfing Syria’s official funds and making it a significant lifeline for the bankrupted state. The drug prices simply pennies to make however can promote for as much as $20 for a single pill. The haul seen on the deserted manufacturing unit is doubtlessly value tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars}.

For years, neighboring nations accused Assad’s Syria of being the world’s primary provider of the unlawful drug. In March 2023, the U.S. Treasury Division sanctioned a number of Syrians for his or her alleged involvement within the “harmful amphetamine”, together with two of Assad’s cousins.

“Syria has grow to be a world chief within the manufacturing of the extremely addictive Captagon, a lot of which is trafficked by Lebanon,” mentioned Andrea Gacki on the time, who was then-director of the Treasury Division’s Workplace of International Belongings Management. “With our allies, we are going to maintain accountable those that help Bashar al-Assad’s regime with illicit drug income and different monetary implies that allow the regime’s continued repression of the Syrian individuals.”

Now, his wildly profitable drug enterprise seems to have been crushed, alongside together with his brutal and corrupt regime. For Yakin, Captagon has no place in Syria’s future.

“We’ll destroy all of it,” Yakin mentioned. “We’ll get rid of something that has to do with medication, and something that has to do with the prison Assad regime.”