Inside the largest known captagon lab financing the Assad regime [View all]
Douma, Syria: The industrial-scale drug lab sat just up a hill from a main road on the western edge of Damascus, the city that was the seat of power for the Assad family which long denied any links to the narcotics trade.
Deposed president Bashar al-Assads government in Syria was accused by Washington and others of profiteering from the production and sale of the addictive amphetamine-like stimulant commonly known as captagon, which became entrenched across the Middle East, from front lines of wars to construction sites and high-end parties.
The annual trade in captagon is worth billions of dollars a year, experts say, and Western governments have linked the illicit trade in Syria to Assads brother, Maher al-Assad, and the Fourth Division of the Syrian army he commanded.
Mahers whereabouts are unknown and Reuters could not reach him for comment on the allegations.
More: https://www.theage.com.au/world/middle-east/inside-the-largest-known-captagon-lab-financing-the-assad-regime-20241214-p5kycy.html
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