AA / Damas / Enes Canli and Ethem Ozcan
Anadolu visited and filmed what is believed to be the largest drug depot of the ousted Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, capturing images of containers full of drugs and the locations where they were hidden.
Along the Syria-Lebanon highway is a headquarters belonging to the 4th Division of the regime’s army, which was commanded by Bashar al-Assad’s brother Maher al-Assad.
After the fall of the regime on December 8, it was revealed that this location was no longer a military base, but was used as a drug storage location.
According to British government estimates, Al-Assad was responsible for 80% of the world’s production of captagon, a highly addictive drug.
The annual global captagon trade is valued at $10 billion, and al-Assad’s family is estimated to have raked in nearly $2.4 billion annually from this trade.
The use of a military base as a drug production and storage facility is one of the clearest examples of how the regime has transformed itself into a “narco-state”, managing drug trafficking through intermediary of the state apparatus.
At the entrance to the warehouse, which once served as headquarters, photos of Bashar and Maher al-Assad are displayed.
On the walls of the base, one can read slogans such as “Our blood, our lives are dedicated to you, Bashar” and “We are all Al-Assad”.
**Opioid drugs in cans of pistachios, captagon pills in shoe soles
In one of the containers, hundreds of boxes of highly addictive opioid medications, which require a prescription, are hidden in boxes of pistachios.
In another hangar of the military base, numerous shoe boxes were found.
Captagon would have been placed in the soles of the shoes before they were shipped.
Likewise, mattresses also used for transporting drugs were seen piled up in the area.
**Different types of drugs hidden in various products
Continuing the tour of the military base, several products used for drug smuggling were discovered.
Marble blocks with hollow centers, ceramic tiles, portable ladders and car doors have also been used to hide drugs.
In one of the containers, raw materials used for drug production were discovered.
In a third warehouse at the military base, drugs such as cannabis and captagon were seen packaged on shelves.
The smell of drugs becomes intensely perceptible as soon as one enters the warehouse.
Objects such as doors with hollowed-out sections, wooden plywood blocks, and industrial ventilation devices, which would not normally be found on a military base, were used to conceal the drugs during transport.
Likewise, different chemical raw materials used in drug production were found in the base.
**The 4th Division became the Drug Division
“This is one of the depots of the 4th division. The pills and cannabis packaged here were exported to neighboring countries,” Ismail Zaitoun, a guard working for the Syrian interim administration’s defense ministry, told Anadolu Agency.
Zaitoun noted that the deposit contained raw materials, captagon and cannabis.
“In the 4th Division Headquarters, in addition to depots, there are also manufacturing facilities. This depot is a packaging center. The drugs were transported to neighboring countries using many products such as wood, shoes, marble stone and electrical equipment,” he said.
He added: “When we arrived, we knew the area was a military base, but we also found it was a drug trafficking hub. Many drugs were produced by the 4th Division, under the command of Maher al-Assad, and shipped to neighboring countries through numerous channels. The 4th Division had become the Drug Division.”
Zaitoun reported boxes of fabric emblazoned with “4th Division” and the ancient two-star Syrian flag, which were placed on the front of large transport trucks, allowing them to freely pass through checkpoints at inside Syria and reach the border areas.
He also revealed that the regime was trying to cover the costs associated with the arrival of foreign armed groups in Syria by producing drugs.
**The regime has raked in billions of dollars from drug trafficking
The deposed regime raked in billions of dollars from drug trafficking, one of its main sources of income.
The drug production and trafficking network, led by Maher al-Assad, the brother of Bashar al-Assad, was responsible for transporting drugs produced in Syria, mainly via Lebanon, to countries in the region and the world entire.
According to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the main departure points for drug shipments were Syria and Lebanon.
These cargoes were transported either directly to the Gulf Arab countries by land or sea, or indirectly via other regions.
International media also speculated that recent steps taken by Arab countries to normalize relations with the al-Assad regime were aimed at preventing drug trafficking from affecting their countries, and that they were in talks with Al-Assad to address this issue.
There are fears that high-ranking figures from the ousted regime, who fled Syria to take refuge in neighboring countries, could set up a similar drug trafficking network.
On December 13, 2024, Anadolu filmed a medicine packaging workshop located in the basement of a factory in the Douma district of Damascus.
Additionally, on December 15, 2024, Anadolu filmed a drug production facility located in a villa owned by Maher al-Assad in the town of Ad-Dimas, west of Damascus.
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