According to information released by the Ministry of the Interior, the Anti-Narcotic Department confiscated around 525 kg of caffeinated amphetamine pills, Captagon as they usually call it here, destined for Saudi Arabia.

In October, security forces also frustrated an attempt to smuggle some 800,000 Captagon pills at the Nassib-Jaber border crossing with Jordan.

Nidal Joreij, director of the Anti-Narcotic Department, attributed the seizure of large quantities of drugs in the country to Syria’s geographical location that has become it a transit country to production and consumption.

He added that the increase in drug consumption is due to the complex political and security conditions and the use of narcotics as one of the tools of terrorism with the aim of destroying the pillars of stability and sowing chaos in the country.

According to recent figures from the Ministry of the Interior, some 9,860 people were arrested during 2020 on drug trafficking and consumption charges, while more than 4,863 kilograms of hashish, 26 million Captagon pills, about 427,000 psychopharmaceutical pills, four kilograms of heroin and 219 grams of cocaine were seized.

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