DAMASCUS: Syrian security forces seized more than 700,000 captagon pills and over 40 kilograms of hashish in a series of anti-smuggling operations along the country’s border with Lebanon, the state-run SANA news agency reported on Thursday.
The Media and Communication Directorate at the Ministry of Defense said the Syrian Arab Army’s Border Guard Forces intercepted several attempts in recent days to smuggle narcotics from Lebanese territory to destinations in the countryside around Homs and Damascus. The ministry did not say whether any arrests were made.
The seizures come as the new Syrian authorities continue their efforts to curb cross-border drug trafficking and tighten security. Syrian authorities had already thwarted an attempt earlier this month to smuggle a large shipment of narcotics from Lebanon to recipients at farms near Al-Nabek in the Damascus countryside.
Captagon, an amphetamine-type stimulant, is at the heart of a multibillion-dollar drug-trafficking network that expanded greatly under the former Assad regime in Syria during the country’s 14-year civil war. Neighboring countries repeatedly reported large seizures of the drug entering their territories.
After the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, the new authorities in Syria pledged to crack down on narcotics production and smuggling as part of broader efforts to restore border security.
