LATAKIA, Syria
Syria’s drug production centers and storage facilities continue to be uncovered following the overthrow of the 61-year Ba'athist regime.
An Anadolu team uncovered one of the largest drug storage facilities used by the Bashar Assad regime in a port in the coastal city of Latakia.
The team documented large quantities of drugs, including Captagon, as well as hidden items inside a warehouse and trucks.
The newly established government’s security forces, acting on a tip, reached one of the largest warehouses at the port, where Captagon was produced and packaged for shipment.
Footage by Anadolu at the warehouse showed Captagon pills and drugs hidden inside toy motorcycles, doors, hookah handles and vehicle seat covers.
General security forces commander Abu Rayyan told Anadolu that the warehouse was under the command of Maher al-Assad, Assad’s brother.
Rayyan explained that the drugs were being packaged and prepared for shipment to Western and Gulf countries.
Regime earned billions from drug trade
The regime earned billions of dollars from drug trafficking, one of its largest sources of income.
The drug production and smuggling network led by Maher al-Assad exported large quantities of drugs produced in Syria, primarily through Lebanon to regional countries and around the world.
According to estimates by the British government, Assad was responsible for 80% of the global production of Captagon.
It is estimated that the annual value of the global Captagon trade is $10 billion, with the Assad family’s annual profit nearing $2.4 billion.
*Writing by Gizem Nisa Cebi in Istanbul
