Syrian security forces destroyed large quantities of narcotics on Sunday, including around 100 million captagon pills, an amphetamine produced on an industrial scale under Bashar al-Assad, an official told AFP.
In 2022, an AFP investigation revealed that Captagon had turned Syria into a narco-state with an illegal industry worth more than ten billion dollars.
“We destroyed large quantities (…) of narcotics,” including “around 100 million captagon pills and 10 to 15 tons of hashish,” as well as raw materials used for drug production, Badr Youssef said. , responsible within the Syrian security forces.
Mr. Youssef was speaking in Damascus from the headquarters of the Fourth Division, the elite unit of the Syrian army of former President Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted from power in December by an Islamist-led coalition. following a lightning offensive.
Syria’s official Sana news agency said the “anti-drug department of the (Interior) Ministry destroyed narcotics seized from the headquarters of the Fourth Division,” which was headed by Bashar al-Assad’s brother , Maher.
An AFP photographer saw security personnel at a warehouse loading dozens of large bags filled with pills and other drugs into trucks, before transporting them to a field where everything was burned.
-On Saturday, Sana reported that authorities had seized “a huge warehouse belonging to the former regime” in the coastal city of Latakia, where captagon pills were hidden “in children’s toys and furniture.”
An AFP photographer visited the warehouse near the port of Latakia on Sunday, where he saw security services dismantling children’s bicycles containing the small white pills.
Other quantities of captagon were hidden in various objects, including dozens of doors, hookahs, car seats and spare parts.
Abu Rayyan, a security official in Latakia, said “50 to 60 million captagon pills” had been seized.
