{"id":1547122,"date":"2024-12-15T15:49:57","date_gmt":"2024-12-15T14:49:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pre.efe.com\/?p=1547122"},"modified":"2024-12-15T16:36:45","modified_gmt":"2024-12-15T15:36:45","slug":"cocaine-of-the-poor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pre.efe.com\/en\/other-news\/2024-12-15\/cocaine-of-the-poor\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Cocaine of the poor\u2019: Curtains fall on Assad regime\u2019s captagon empire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By \u00c1lvaro Mellizo<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Damascus, Dec 15 (EFE).- As Syria transitions away from Bashar al-Assad\u2019s rule, the scale of the former regime&#8217;s dependence on the captagon trade, a powerful amphetamine dubbed &#8220;the cocaine of the poor,&#8221; is coming to light.<br><br>In a vast warehouse 25 km north of Damascus, guarded by an insurgent fighter, millions of dollars&#8217; worth of captagon pills lie scattered on the floor.<br><br>\u201cThis empire sustained the Assad regime,\u201d said a militant from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militant group that led the coalition of rebels that overthrew Assad\u2019s government in just 12 days of intense fighting, ending 53 years of rule by the Assad family.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/pre.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-60-1024x683.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1547237\" style=\"width:800px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pre.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-60-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/pre.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-60-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/pre.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-60-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/pre.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-60-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/pre.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-60-430x286.jpeg 430w, https:\/\/pre.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-60-1200x800.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/pre.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-60.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>A Syrian rebel fighter secure an area in a factory for manufacturing captagon pills,a synthetic amphetamine-type stimulant, prior to the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in the city of Douma, east of the capital Damascus, Syria, 14 December 2024. EFE-EPA\/MOHAMMED AL RIFAI<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A hidden empire uncovered<br><\/strong><br>Seized by the Fourth Division of the Syrian Army, the warehouse, once disguised as a potato chip factory, was led by Maher al-Assad, Bashar\u2019s younger brother and a central figure in the production and trafficking of captagon.<br><br>The heavily guarded facility, located on military grounds, was inaccessible to civilians.<br><br>Inside, the basement reeked of chemicals, and the floor was covered with a fine powder from millions of captagon pills spilling out of hollowed-out industrial batteries.<br><br>Each battery concealed approximately four kilograms of the addictive stimulant, worth $10 to $25 per pill on the black market.<br><br>HTS forces discovered the warehouse in flames during their takeover, with machinery and chemical equipment already removed.<br><br>Only fuel drums and scattered evidence remained, pointing to an attempted cover-up.<br><br><strong>Assad\u2019s Financial Lifeline<br><\/strong><br>International organizations and governments have long accused the Assad regime of running a multi-billion-dollar captagon trade.<br><br>A report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) revealed that Syria is the primary source of captagon in the Middle East.<br><br>The UK Foreign Office estimated the trade\u2019s value at $57 billion annually, three times the combined income of Mexican drug cartels.<br><br>The drug trade served as the financial lifeline for the Assad regime, enriching its inner circle and militias at the expense of the Syrian people, the UK government said.<br><br>A study by Der Spiegel reported that in 2021 alone, Syria earned $5.7 billion from captagon, a staggering figure compared to the country\u2019s GDP of $8.98 billion that year, as per World Bank data.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/pre.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-58-1024x683.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1547228\" style=\"width:800px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pre.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-58-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/pre.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-58-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/pre.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-58-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/pre.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-58-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/pre.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-58-430x286.jpeg 430w, https:\/\/pre.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-58-1200x800.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/pre.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-58.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Syrian rebel fighters pour hidden captagon pills, a synthetic amphetamine-type stimulant, from fake electric motors at a factory for manufacturing captagon pills prior to the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in the city of Douma, east of the capital Damascus, Syria, 14 December 2024. The rebels, led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) faction, claim to have uncovered a large quantity of drugs after taking control of the country following the regime&#8217;s collapse. EFE-EPA\/MOHAMMED AL RIFAI<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>More discoveries loom<br><\/strong><br>This warehouse is just one of several caches discovered by HTS militants since their takeover of Damascus.<br><br>The insurgent coalition has made public its discoveries, further exposing the regime&#8217;s deep ties to the drug trade.<br><br>The scale of Syria\u2019s captagon empire highlights the role of illicit trade in propping up Assad\u2019s rule and adds another layer of complexity to the country\u2019s transition.<br><br>While public institutions begin to reopen, Syria now faces the daunting task of dismantling this shadow economy and addressing the damage it has wrought. EFE<br><br>amr-sk<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By \u00c1lvaro Mellizo Damascus, Dec 15 (EFE).- As Syria transitions away from Bashar al-Assad\u2019s rule, the scale of the former regime&#8217;s dependence on the captagon trade, a powerful amphetamine dubbed &#8220;the cocaine of the poor,&#8221; is coming to light. In a vast warehouse 25 km north of Damascus, guarded by an insurgent fighter, millions of &#8230; <a title=\"\u2018Cocaine of the poor\u2019: Curtains fall on Assad regime\u2019s captagon empire\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pre.efe.com\/en\/other-news\/2024-12-15\/cocaine-of-the-poor\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about \u2018Cocaine of the poor\u2019: Curtains fall on Assad regime\u2019s captagon empire\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198164071,"featured_media":1547123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[122143,121960],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1547122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-news","category-portada-america","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ 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