Syrian anti-drug units seized a record amount of 2.3 tonnes of captagon, a stimulant of the amphetamine family.
Differently described as the “drug of Jihad,” captagon is popular in the Middle East and especially prevalent in war-torn areas such as Syria, where the conflict has spurred demand and created great opportunities for producers.
In the beginning, the production of this drug was focused on Lebanon; The Islamic State sold it en masse to fund its activities. The Captagon was christened “the drug of Jihad” after it was found in militant bases, including one used by Islamists who killed 90 people at the Bataclan Theater in Paris in 2015.
In July two years ago, Italian authorities announced that they had seized 14 tons of amphetamine pills with a market value of $ 1 billion coming from Syria. This was then described as the largest operation of its kind in the world.
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