Iraq confiscates 1.1 tonnes of Captagon pills shipped from Syria

Drugs were intercepted with assistance of Saudi agency, Interior Ministry says

Iraq's security troops have confiscated an estimated 1.1 tonnes of Captagon pills hidden inside a lorry that entered Iraq from Syria through Turkey, the Interior Ministry said on Sunday.

The drug shipment, one of the largest seized in Iraq, was monitored and intercepted with the assistance of “important information” provided by Saudi Arabia's drug enforcement agency, ministry spokesman Brig Muqdad Meri said.

Footage released by the Interior Ministry showed the pills hidden in a shipment of ironing boards.

The bust, part of Iraq’s intensified anti-narcotics efforts, demonstrates growing regional co-operation aimed at dismantling the illicit drug trade.

"The ministry has significantly advanced its capabilities in drug enforcement, using modern technology, evolving strategies and unprecedented intelligence-sharing with regional and international anti-narcotics organisations,” Brig Meri said.

He added that there had been arrests but did not elaborate on the number or nationality of those detained. The seizure operation also involved the co-operation of security troops in the autonomous region of Kurdistan, which borders Turkey, Brig Meri said.

Western anti-narcotics officials say Captagon, an addictive amphetamine-type stimulant, has been produced in Syria for years. Captagon – a mix of amphetamines also referred to as the “poor man’s cocaine” – is one of the more popular recreational drugs among affluent youth in the Middle East.

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The regime of former Syrian president Bashar Al Assad long denied involvement in the Captagon trade, but Washington accused the former president and his close circle of profiting hugely from it. Captagon is said to have been Syria's main export during the country's 13-year civil war.

The flow of the drug was one of the main reasons that Arab countries normalised ties with Mr Al Assad's government two years ago, as they sought co-operation in tackling smuggling operations.

The seizure in Iraq is the first major announcement since the toppling of Mr Al Assad's regime in December. It follows Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani's first visit to Iraq since the regime's fall, during which he called on Baghdad to reopen the border between the two countries, which had been shut after the revolt that ousted the Assad government.

Last year the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC) said Iraq had experienced a "dramatic increase" in both the trafficking and use of Captagon in the previous five years.

"In 2023 alone, authorities seized a record-high 24 million Captagon tablets - the equivalent of over 4.1 tonnes, with an estimated retail value of between $84 million and $144 million," a UNDOC report said.

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It said that between 2019 and 2023, about 82 per cent of the Captagon seized in the Middle East originated from Syria, followed by Lebanon at 17 per cent.

According to the New Lines Institute, a Washington-based think tank, the global Captagon market is worth about $10 billion a year, with 80 per cent produced in Syria before the fall of Mr Al Assad. In 2021, the Syrian government is estimated to have made more than $5 billion from the sale of the drug.

The cross-border flow of the narcotic has long been viewed as a major national security threat in the Middle East. Billions of dollars a year in Captagon have crossed from Syria into other Arab countries since 2018. Dealers often target the wealthy cities of the Gulf states, leading to drug busts in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and elsewhere.

One pill costs as little as a few US cents to produce, but high-quality pills have sold for as much as $20 each in Arab countries.