How Does Europe Help the Assad Family With the Drug Trade?

The Syrian regime has become the world’s largest producer and exporter of Captagon, a highly addictive stimulant that has flooded the Middle East in recent years, according to official figures.

The trade in this synthetic drug, which resembles amphetamine, generates billions of dollars for the Assad regime and its allies while fueling a public health crisis in the region.

Captagon, which can be consumed as a tablet or a powder, is widely used by people from different walks of life in the Middle East.

Students take it to boost their concentration, taxi and truck drivers and soldiers use it to stay awake and alert, and those who suffer from food insecurity use it to suppress their appetite.

Captagon also appeals to the party scene in the Gulf, where it offers a euphoric and energetic high without the stigma of other drugs, such as heroin and cocaine.

 

Ban History

Captagon was originally developed in Germany in the 1960s as a medication for hyperactivity disorder, attention deficit disorder, depression, and narcolepsy.

But in 1986, the United Nations banned one of its key ingredients, phenethylamine, which led most countries to stop producing and using it.

However, new production hubs emerged in Bulgaria with counterfeit pills smuggled by Turkish gangs to the Middle East, according to a 2018 report by the European Center for Drug Monitoring and Addiction.

When European authorities began cracking down on Captagon, or “Abu al-Hilalain” (two crescent moons), as known in the Middle East since the early 2000s, production shifted to Syria. And after the outbreak of the Syrian uprising in 2011, production soared.

Caroline Rose, director of the New Lines Institute, said that the political and security vacuum that emerged during the Syrian war, and the collapse of the economy as a result, led to the flourishing of illicit economies such as Captagon.

She described the trade as a vital alternative source of income for the Syrian regime and its allies, as they try to evade Western sanctions and maintain local power structures, especially in the south.

 

‘Drug Farm’

The alarm bells rang a few years ago, and although it is hard to know the real impact of Captagon on Middle Eastern societies due to a lack of data, it is a major source of concern in the region.

Tim al-Hajj, a Syrian investigative journalist, said that drugs are one of the disasters that destroy society, especially in the Middle East, where young people suffer from unemployment due to the collapse of economic conditions because of the policies of rulers.

He added that members of Assad’s family produce drugs in an organized manner with the aim of making money and drowning young people in corruption to keep them away from demanding their usurped rights.

But drugs open a big door for crime in any society, let alone a country like Syria that already lives in security chaos.”

But Syria is not alone in this. In late August 2022, Saudi Arabia carried out its largest-ever anti-drug operation when it discovered 46 million amphetamine pills hidden in a flour shipment.

Jordan also thwarted an attempt to smuggle 16 million Captagon pills in February this year, which is much larger than what they seized in 2021.

Rose said that what makes things worse in the Middle East is the lack of adequate rehabilitation centers and harm reduction systems, as well as public awareness campaigns.

This is clearly evident in Syria. Despite the fact that the regime and its allies are making a lot from this trade, there is no evidence that Captagon revenues are being invested into Syrian public sectors.

But this mysterious money goes into the pockets of leaders and helps sustain their security apparatuses in Syria. They are waging their ongoing war against opposition forces and funding recruitment and supplies.

 

Bargaining Tool

The drug has emerged as both a source of income and a bargaining tool for President Bashar al-Assad, who is seeking to restore his legitimacy in the region and beyond.

According to experts, the Syrian regime and its allies have been producing and smuggling large quantities of Captagon.

The drug, which is made from cheap and widely available ingredients, can generate huge profits for the cash-strapped regime and its cronies.

Al-Hajj said that Drug trafficking and smuggling have become a political pressure card used by Assad in negotiations.

In May, Damascus announced that it would cooperate with Jordan and Iraq to identify and combat the sources of drug production and smuggling.

But a week later, a suspected Jordanian airstrike killed one of Syria’s top drug lords and his family members in the south of the country, raising questions about the sincerity of Assad’s pledge.

According to Gideon Rose, an analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations, the Captagon trade also involves European actors, who serve as transit points or intermediaries for the drug shipments.

She says that smugglers use European ports or fake companies to redirect the pills to their intended markets, mainly in the Gulf states, where they fetch high prices.

Rose added that by passing through Europe, smugglers try to enhance the credibility of their shipments and reduce the chances of inspection.

But certainly, some of these illegal drugs have reached European markets as well. Al-Hajj agrees that there is “no doubt that organized gangs in European countries work in coordination with the Assad family to deliver drugs to Europe.”

He cites the case of a massive seizure of Captagon pills by the Italian police in 2020, which was worth about one billion euros and was the largest single operation of its kind in the world.

Experts say tackling Captagon—like other illegal drugs—requires multifaceted solutions. In the short term, Rose suggests improving communication and coordination between transit countries and recipient countries on anti-drug strategies.

But she warns against direct cooperation with the Syrian regime, which exploits its control over the trade to gain concessions.

Al-Hajj argues that systemic solutions are needed to address the issue in Syria. He says that the problem of Captagon is not the worst problem in Syria, as the country is living under tyranny as a result of the domination of the Assad family that rules with iron and fire and has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions.