Wall Street Journal: Captagon Trade Transforms Syria into Regional Drug Empire

The Wall Street Journal revealed in an extensive investigation an escalating battle along the Syrian-Jordanian border to combat Captagon, which is penetrating social classes and geographical borders in the region.

The billions of dollars in revenue from this trade flow to Tehran-backed armed groups, including Hezbollah, and strengthen the resources of the Syrian regime, which has become one of the world's largest drug cartels, thus overcoming the impact of Western sanctions.

American officials expressed growing concerns about this trade's impact on the stability of their key regional allies, especially Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

A high-ranking Jordanian security source explained that his country has deployed nearly one-third of its military forces to control the flow of drugs and weapons across the Syrian border.

According to New Lines Institute data, Captagon seizures on the Syrian-Jordanian border have increased fourfold since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, often accompanied by prohibited weapons shipments.

Caroline Rose, a Captagon trade specialist at New Lines Institute, stated: "The Syrian regime is creating a model for sanctioned countries seeking to make significant gains."

Reports indicate that Syria's Fourth Armored Division, led by regime president's brother Maher al-Assad, dominates Captagon production and distribution, while the Jordanian security official estimates cross-border drug trade from Syria at between 8 to 10 billion dollars annually.

Smuggling methods have evolved to include drones and carrier pigeons, with Jordanian intelligence showing footage of drug-laden drones being launched from Syrian regime military bases.

Despite diplomatic attempts to contain the crisis, including Syria's readmission to the Arab League in exchange for anti-drug commitments, the Captagon trade continued to grow, prompting Jordan to adopt a shoot-to-kill policy against armed infiltrators.

The effects of this trade extend to Europe, where Italian, Greek, Dutch, and German authorities have seized large quantities of the drug and production facilities, while Rose warned of Captagon potentially reaching American markets soon.

The report traces Captagon's history, which began manufacturing in Germany during the 1960s as a treatment for narcolepsy, depression, and ADHD, before being globally banned in 1986, when Bulgarian criminal gangs moved production to Lebanon's Bekaa Valley in the 1990s.

The Syrian war in 2011, coupled with Lebanon's political and economic collapse, provided a golden opportunity for Captagon trade to flourish across collapsed borders and ungoverned areas to Mediterranean ports and international shipping lines.

The crisis is worsening in the Arab world with the spread of counterfeit pills containing dangerous mixtures of caffeine, drugs, and sedatives, along with toxic levels of zinc and nickel, while Viagra is added to pills headed to Saudi Arabia.

International efforts to counter this threat have escalated, with President Biden signing the Captagon Act in December 2022, requiring Washington to develop a strategy to dismantle smuggling networks and build regional security partnerships, while the House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill to impose new sanctions on manufacturers and traders.

Saudi Arabia has intensified its efforts to combat this scourge, establishing city checkpoints to catch smugglers and users, recently seizing 1.3 million pills hidden in a construction materials shipment near the Jordanian border, and dismantling a smuggling network in Riyadh that included twelve government employees.

Levant-Agencies