Syrian authorities have seized nearly 500,000 captagon pills in a bust against a drug smuggling and manufacturing ring in the the city of Hama, according to state news agency SANA. The ringleader and other members of the criminal group were arrested as a result of the operation.
Captagon, a potent amphetamine, has fuelled a booming illicit industry in Syria over the past decade, turning it into the world’s largest narco-state under the Assad regime. Since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, the transitional government has been ramping up efforts to crack down on large-scale Captagon production. According to UNODC research, the drug trade has been sharply disrupted over the past year, with authorities dismantling dozens of laboratories and storage sites.
