Authorities in Syria and Saudi Arabia have intercepted massive shipments of Captagon, a powerful stimulant fueling addiction and conflict in the Middle East. Syria’s anti-narcotics unit seized 100,000 pills at the Jordanian border, while Saudi officials stopped nearly 1.4 million tablets concealed in air conditioning units at the Al Batha border crossing. The seizures underscore the ongoing battle against the region’s rampant Captagon trade, which has made Syria the world’s leading producer of the drug.
Captagon, originally developed in the 1960s as a treatment for conditions such as narcolepsy and depression, was banned in most countries by 1986 due to its addictive properties. However, counterfeit versions of the drug have flourished in the Middle East, particularly in Gulf states like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar.
Syrian civil war combatants have also used Captagon to boost endurance in battle. The drug’s composition today often includes other substances like caffeine, the asthma medication theophylline, or paracetamol, making its effects unpredictable.
Over the past decade, Syria has emerged as the global epicenter of Captagon production. The collapse of its formal economy following years of war has led the country to become the world’s largest narco-state, with drug trafficking serving as a crucial revenue stream.
Ports in Libya, Italy, Greece, and Romania have reported large-scale Captagon shipments originating from Latakia, Syria’s key Mediterranean port. The largest bust to date occurred in June 2020 when Italian authorities at the port of Salerno seized 14 tonnes of Captagon, valued at over €1 billion.
Long before the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, media investigations linked members of the Assad family to Greece’s largest-ever Captagon seizure, which also contained over $100 million in hashish. Following Assad’s ouster, further evidence emerged of the government’s deep involvement in the drug trade.
Captagon manufacturing equipment and stockpiles were discovered in former military bases, confirming longstanding suspicions that Syria had been flooding the region with illicit drugs.
“The Assad regime is waging a drug war against its regional neighbors,” said Joel Rayburn, former U.S. special envoy to Syria, in a 2023 interview. Despite efforts by Syria’s new government to curb Captagon production, experts warn that the trade will continue due to its profitability.
The Washington-based New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy cautioned in a recent report that even with Syria’s post-Assad crackdown, Captagon production is unlikely to disappear. The think tank urged international governments to support Syria’s transitional government through targeted economic relief, allowing Syrians to shift away from illicit trade and into the formal economy.
Without such measures, Captagon will likely remain Syria’s dominant export, exacerbating regional instability and fueling organized crime.
11 March 2025
Source: OCCRP
