Syria is fighting a war on drugs. The new government has been ramping up efforts to stop the illegal drug trade across Syria.
Over the years, the former Assad regime, which fell last December, turned Syria into a center of drug trafficking in the region. The drug trade also appeared to be tied to Iranian-backed militias in Syria. This means it likely fueled Iran’s nexus of proxies, such as Hezbollah.
Now, the Syrian government is working to fight the drug dealers. This is a hard process because parts of Syria continue to present a security challenge, and drug smugglers thrive off power vacuums.
A “narcotic smuggling operation was foiled in Daraa countryside,” Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), Syria’s official news agency, reported Monday.
This area is near Damascus and not far from the Golan Heights. As such, Israel may also be threatened by the drug trade that takes place in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.
“Units from the Anti-Narcotics Branch in Daraa province successfully managed to thwart an attempt to smuggle a large quantity of the narcotic Captagon pills, a statement by the Ministry of Interior Affairs said on Monday,” SANA reported.
“The narcotics were concealed inside instant-juice sachets [or] powdered-drink packets modified to hide the pills from inspection,” the report said. “Authorities said the shipment was intended for smuggling through the Nasib border crossing toward a neighboring country.”
Nasib crossing is on the border between Jordan and Syria. It is east of Daraa and southwest of the Druze region, including Sweida. It is an important crossing for Syrian trade with the Gulf states.
Syrian authorities have confiscated millions of Captagon pills
In addition, the Syrian government “confirmed that the Daraa Anti-Narcotics Branch continues to intensify monitoring and field operations along border areas to safeguard national security and protect society from the dangers of illicit drugs.” SANA reported, adding that “in a related development, anti-narcotics units in Damascus countryside seized 323 blocks of hashish (hash) and approximately 35,000 Captagon pills during an operation in the al-Zabadani area.”
This area is near Lebanon in the mountains.
Saudi Arabia-based newspaper Arab News reported last Tuesday: “The Syrian Interior Ministry said Monday that it had seized about 11 million Captagon stimulant pills that entered the country from neighboring Lebanon in one of the largest busts since the fall of former ruler Bashar Assad.”
According to the ministry, “The anti-narcotics branch in Homs province seized a vehicle coming from Lebanon containing approximately 11 million Captagon pills, [and it intends to] conduct the necessary investigations to uncover the identities of those involved and identify the criminal networks linked to the operation,” the report said.
“Captagon, which is similar to amphetamines, became Syria’s largest export during the civil war that erupted in 2011, with its trade serving as a key funding source for the government of the ousted president Assad,” Arab News reported. “Since his fall in December, the new authorities have reported numerous major seizures of Captagon across the country. However, neighboring countries continue to report the interception of large shipments.”