Damascus — In a far off nook outdoor Damascus, Syria, a now deserted potato chip manufacturing facility finds one of the most many darkish however open secrets and techniques of the ousted regime of Bashar al-Assad.
A CBS Information workforce received get right of entry to to the web page, discovering a storeroom covered with hydrochloric acid and acetic acid on an business scale, that are precursor chemical substances had to make Captagon, one of the vital well-liked boulevard medication within the Center East and past.
Ahmed Abu Yakin is with Syria’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, one of the most main groups in charge of the country after Assad fled on Dec. 8. Yakin says this large underground stash of Captagon used to be discovered simply days after the insurrection crew’s takeover. The drugs filled into massive stacks of family volt regulator kits able for cargo.
Incessantly known as “deficient guy’s cocaine,” Captagon is a extremely addictive amphetamine-type stimulant.
“We really feel unhealthy for the younger individuals who have been hooked on it,” Yakin stated. “The Assad regime used to be destroying a era and could not care much less. They simply cared about creating wealth.”
And that cash is staggering. Analysts estimate the Assad regime raked in $5 billion in step with 12 months from the business, dwarfing Syria’s legitimate price range and making it a very important lifeline for the bankrupted state. The drug prices simply pennies to make however can promote for as much as $20 for a unmarried pill. The haul noticed on the deserted manufacturing facility is doubtlessly value tens of tens of millions of greenbacks.
For years, neighboring international locations accused Assad’s Syria of being the arena’s primary provider of the unlawful drug. In March 2023, the U.S. Treasury Division sanctioned a number of Syrians for his or her alleged involvement within the “bad amphetamine”, together with two of Assad’s cousins.
“Syria has turn out to be a world chief within the manufacturing of the extremely addictive Captagon, a lot of which is trafficked thru Lebanon,” said Andrea Gacki on the time, who used to be then-director of the Treasury Division’s Workplace of International Property Keep an eye on. “With our allies, we will be able to dangle responsible those that give a boost to Bashar al-Assad’s regime with illicit drug income and different monetary signifies that allow the regime’s endured repression of the Syrian other folks.”
Now, his wildly profitable drug trade seems to had been overwhelmed, at the side of his brutal and corrupt regime. For Yakin, Captagon has no position in Syria’s long term.
“We will be able to smash all of it,” Yakin stated. “We will be able to do away with the rest that has to do with medication, and the rest that has to do with the legal Assad regime.”
