“One of our units, in cooperation with the Drug Enforcement Administration, was able to arrest two people who possessed narcotics and had hidden them in a skillful manner,” said Hassan Hajouli, head of security for Aleppo’s Bab al-Nairab area, according to the province’s Telegram channel.
According to Hajouli, the pills were being prepared for smuggling to neighboring countries, specifically to Iraq’s capital Baghdad.
Last week, Iraq’s interior ministry announced the seizure of 1.1 tons of captagon flowing in from Syria, with the help of the Kurdistan Region and Saudi Arabia.
In December, Iraq’s narcotics directorate revealed that a total of six tons and 183 kilograms of illicit drugs were seized in 2024, with 14,483 suspects arrested. Among these, 144 individuals have been sentenced to death for international drug smuggling, while 454 local dealers were sentenced to life in prison - a term of 20 years.
The drug trade, especially Captagon, is a growing concern in the Middle East, including Iraq.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) highlighted the escalating drug crisis in its 2024 report, revealing a staggering 3,380 percent increase in Captagon seizures in Iraq from 2019 to 2023. In 2023 alone, over 4.1 tons of Captagon tablets were seized, the report noted, adding that the drugs trafficked in Iraq also include opium, heroin, hashish, and methamphetamine.
Syria, under fallen dictator Bashar al-Assad, was a major source for the Captagon trade. The drug was one of the power cards used by the Assad regime for political leverage and his brother Maher is believed to have been largely behind the illegal business. With the collapse of his rule, observers have urged the international community to make ending the Captagon trade among the prerequisites for providing relief to the new Syria leadership.
For its part, the Iraqi government has said it will continue to fight the drug trade with the same determination that it combats terrorism.
