The dramatic decline of Bashar al-Assad’s regime has shed light on the dark corners of his rule, including the industrial-scale export of the drug Captagon.
Rebels, led by Islamists, have seized military bases and distribution centers for the amphetamine stimulant, which has taken over the drug market across the Middle East.
The rebels say they found large quantities of drugs and vowed to destroy them.
HTS fighters allowed AFP journalists to enter a warehouse at a quarry on the outskirts of Damascus, where Captagon pills were hidden inside electrical components for export.
In the warehouse, the boxes were disguised as standard goods on pallets, alongside sacks of caustic soda. Caustic soda, or sodium hydroxide, is a key ingredient in the production of methamphetamine, another stimulant.
Captagon has turned Syria into the largest narco-state in the world. It became Syria’s biggest export, surpassing all its legal exports combined, according to estimates drawn from official data by AFP during an investigation in 2022.
