Syria: New Captagon drug trade link to top officials found – By Emir Nader (BBC News) / June 27, 2023
New direct links between the multi-billion dollar Captagon drug trade and leading members of the Syrian Armed Forces and President Bashar al-Assad’s family have been revealed in a joint investigation by BBC News Arabic and the investigative journalism network OCCRP.
Captagon is a highly addictive amphetamine-like drug that has plagued the Middle East in recent years. Over the past year, the BBC has filmed with the Jordanian and Lebanese armies, observing their campaigns to stop Captagon being smuggled across the borders into their countries from Syria.
Now the drug is being found in Europe, Africa and Asia.
In March, Britain, the United States and the European Union imposed sanctions on a list of people – including two cousins of President Assad – suspected of involvement in the Captagon trade. But the BBC’s investigation, deep inside Syria’s narco-state, has found evidence indicating the involvement of other senior Syrian officials in addition to those already included in that list.
CONTINUE > https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-66002450
