DOUMA, Dec 13 (Alliance News): In a breakthrough revelation, an industrial-scale drug lab producing Captagon pills has been discovered on the western edge of Damascus, shedding new light on Syria’s controversial role in the global drug trade.
Despite decades of denial by President Bashar al-Assad’s government, international experts have long accused the regime of profiting from the illicit production and sale of Captagon, an amphetamine-like stimulant that has become prevalent across the Middle East.
The trade in Captagon is worth billions of dollars annually, and Western governments have linked the drug’s production in Syria to key figures in the Assad regime, particularly
Bashar’s brother, Maher al-Assad, who commands the Syrian army’s Fourth Division. Though Maher al-Assad’s whereabouts remain unknown, the discovery of this large-scale lab provides the first solid evidence connecting Syria’s leadership to the narcotics trade.
The seized site in the city of Douma, previously a battleground in the civil war, contained dark, expansive warehouses filled with thousands of Captagon pills, many marked with the iconic double crescent or the word “Lexus.”
The findings were confirmed by local fighters who had ousted Assad forces and gained access to the abandoned industrial site. These fighters showed Reuters journalists the piles of pills, meticulously hidden within everyday objects such as furniture and fruit, ready to be exported.
Caroline Rose, director of the New Lines Institute Captagon Trade Project, confirmed that the global Captagon trade is estimated at $10 billion annually, with the Syrian regime profiting around $2.4 billion per year.
According to Rose, the discovered site could be one of the largest known Captagon labs in Syria under Assad’s rule, with barrels of chemical precursors labeled from various countries including the UK, China, and Lebanon.
Captagon, originally developed in the 1960s in Germany to treat attention disorders and narcolepsy, was discontinued but resurfaced as a potent illicit drug known as “poor man’s cocaine.”
Its stimulant properties—promoting focus and staving off sleep and hunger—have made it popular in conflict zones, while growing abuse in the Gulf Arab states is now a significant public health concern.
A large Captagon drug lab linked to the Assad regime has been uncovered in Douma, Syria, highlighting the country’s involvement in the illicit trade.
The global Captagon trade, worth billions, raises alarms over its impact on Middle Eastern society and links to regime figures.
