Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator
Bruno Carbone, a Naples-based drug dealer who supplied the Camorra Mafia with drugs, was captured in Idlib, Syria in November 2022. The armed rebel group HTS, which later ousted President Assad, arrested Carbone, one of Europol’s most wanted, and sent him to face justice in Italy.
In 2020, the world’s biggest seizure of amphetamines was discovered by the Neapolitan Guardia di Finanza, after they found 84 million Captagon pills, worth €1 billion, hidden on a ship sailing from Latakia, Syria to Naples, Italy. For almost two weeks, the Naples customs agents combed through the cargo. 14 tons of Captagon was finally revealed expertly hidden in large cylinders of paper used in industry, in a gearwheel, and under 100 gallons of oil.
Carbone had been buying the Captagon directly from the Assad family. Following the capture of his shipment in Naples, he fled to Dubai until he felt it was too risky to remain there hiding from the Italian police. He then traveled to Syria by smuggling routes but mistakenly found himself in the rebel-controlled Idlib. Had he been in the regime-controlled area to the west of Idlib, he would have been safe under the protection of the Assad family in Latakia.
Initial reports attempted to blame ISIS for the drugs; however, the port of Latakia was solely under the control and security of the Assad regime, and the Assad family would have been the only group who could operate above the law in plain sight.
The COVID-19 lockdowns across Europe had curtailed the capacity of European dealers to produce and distribute drugs. According to the Italian police, drug consortiums like the Camorra Mafia had turned to the Captagon produced by the Assad family in Syria.
In 2019, Captagon and other drugs had been seized in Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Greece, and Egypt on ships having sailed from Latakia. 33 million pills in containers shipped from Syria were seized in Greece, which at the time was the world’s largest amphetamine bust.
In April 2020, Egyptian customs officials uncovered four tons of hashish hidden inside milk cartons produced by Rami Makhlouf, President Assad’s cousin. The Bekaa Valley of eastern Lebanon is historically the site of marijuana production on a massive scale for export in return for hard currency.
In February 2024, Iraqi authorities seized 80 kg of Captagon in the western province of Anbar. The Iranian-backed militias in Iraq had been fighting the rebels in Syria to keep the Assad family in power.
In 2023, the US, EU, and UK imposed sanctions on two cousins of Bashar Assad, as well as others with close ties to the government and the military. The EU stated that the trade in Captagon had become a “regime-led business model, enriching the inner circle of the regime and providing it with revenue that contributes to its ability to maintain its policies of repression against the civilian population”.
In December 2023, Jordanian forces exchanged fire with Syrian Captagon smugglers on the border for the second time in one week.
Experts on the Captagon trade estimated the business was worth about $10 billion globally, with about $2.4 billion going directly to the Assad family.
On December 13, 2024, HTS fighters allowed Western journalists into a warehouse in the suburbs of Damascus, where Captagon pills were concealed inside electrical components for export.
The warehouse was owned by Maher Assad, and co-managed by Amer Khiti, who was sanctioned in 2023 by the UK, which said he “controls multiple businesses in Syria which facilitate the production and smuggling of drugs”.
Below the warehouse and loading docks, thousands of Captagon pills were packed into the copper coils of household voltage stabilizers. Left behind in the chaos of fleeing the country, a huge amount of drugs had been meant to be smuggled out of the country.
Cardboard boxes were on hand to allow the packers to disguise the shipments with standard goods used as a cover. A large number of sacks of caustic soda supplied from Saudi Arabia was present, which is a key ingredient in the production of methamphetamine, another stimulant.
According to the World Bank, the Syrian Captagon trade amounted to $5.6 billion. The trade was exclusively in the hands of President Bashar Assad and his brother Maher, who used the Fourth Division in the illicit trade resulting in keeping the Assad family in power and extreme wealth.
Bashar and Maher held equal power in Syria, which was ruthless and absolute. General Ghassan Bilal was the right hand of Maher, and second in command of the Fourth Division.
Soldiers earning $30.00 per month were eager to supplement their income with drug dealing in their official capacity with the Fourth Division.
Jordan suffered a great deal from the Assad family’s drug empire. In January 2022, the Jordanian military killed 27 drug smugglers who attempted to enter from the Syrian border. 17,000 packets of hashish and 17 million Captagon pills were captured during the first quarter of 2022, marking a dramatic uptick over the previous year.
The Jordanian military knew that the drug trade was carried out by a sophisticated network of armed militias working in coordination between the Assad family and their Iranian backers. While Iran sought to display an image of a devout Islamic conservative country, they were involved in drug dealing and prostitution as a source of hard currency.
In May 2023, the Jordanian airforce carried out airstrikes in the Suweida area, which killed Marai al-Ramthan, who coordinated the Syrian Captagon trafficking operations. Also, hit was a Captagon production facility in the Deraa area.
In June 2024, Jordan prevented two smuggling attempts, seizing a total of 9.5 million Captagon pills, including 3.1 million pills captured at the Al Omari border crossing with Saudi Arabia, while an additional 1.5 million pills and 143 kg of hashish were seized in the Jordanian city of Ar-Ramtha at the Syrian borders.
The new Syrian administration headed by Ahmed Sharaa will ensure that Syria remains free of illicit drug manufacture and distribution. Although still waiting for all the sanctions to be lifted, and facing economic collapse, the Sharaa administration is committed to the renewal and rebuilding of the country. Sharaa and his administration are proud of the role they played in freeing the Syrian people by shutting down the corrupt regime of the Assad family.
Steven Sahiounie is a two-time award-winning journalist.