GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRIME REVIEW widespread international sanctions , which have been in place in response to widespread human rights abuses on opponents in Syria ’ s bloody civil war , not only through the generation of revenue for the regime but also the access to foreign currency it provided . This decision was also facilitated by the close alliance between the Syrian regime and the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah , which in turn has a long-standing history of presence in the global drug markets , catalyzed by the economic disaster in Lebanon and the lawless border between the two countries , which is used as a primary route to smuggle Captagon . 6 Revenue from the drug is since believed to have surpassed Syria ’ s licit exports , providing the most valuable and a key resource for the regime .
While the extent of direct links between the Assad regime and the Syrian Captagon trade are disputed , it is widely held that there is a significant level of complicity — including by Assad family members . 7 Even if the regime has made attempts to show it is clamping down on the trade through occasional drug busts and the killing of a kingpin in Southern Syria , these actions are generally seen as an insincere attempt to distance the regime from the trade . The more the Syrian government implemented its “ Captagon strategy ,” the more the selling of this drug became a family business for the Assad family . 8 According to different inquiries , Bashar ’ s brother , Maher , head of Syria ’ s Republican Guard and of the army elite group of the Fourth Armored Division is the leader of a narco-trafficking ring . 9 The reverberations from this trade have caused and widened tensions with neighbors such as Jordan , which shares a land border with Syria and has seized significant amounts of Captagon on its border in recent years .
The second trend that made Captagon particularly profitable for Assad ’ s government was a considerable rise in demand regionally and globally for this substance . The use of amphetamines by jihadi groups on the battlefield and the rise of demand in the Gulf countries led to an explosion in profits from this drug . In recent years , awareness of Captagon by neighboring countries as well as those further afield has increased , causing smugglers the need to innovate , hiding the pills within egg cartons , milk , hummus and pomegranate . In 2022 , Saudi authorities seized 47 million Captagon pills shipped by boat into the country , and in February 2023 , the Emirati authorities arrested a man trying to smuggle 4.5 million tablets into the country . 10 Seizures of Captagon were also made in Jordan and Lebanon . In 2021 , Italian authorities seized 84 million pills in Salerno , Campania , intercepting a shipment coming from the Syrian port city of Latakia . 11 The rise of Captagon in Syria and the regime ’ s complicity have led to accusations of Syria becoming a narco-state 12 and contributed to the creation of an extended Captagon web all across the Mediterranean region .
U . S . and European efforts to stymie trade and financial crime compliance
In parallel to Captagon ’ s growth in usage and popularity , including increasingly in North American and European markets , attention to the trade has grown in those regions . In 2023 , the U . S ., U . K . and European Union sanctioned relatives of Assad for their alleged involvement in the trade , as well as prominent businesspeople and militia leaders . 13
In the 2022 U . S . National Defense Authorization Act , the Countering Assad ’ s Proliferation Trafficking and Garnering of Narcotics Act , commonly referred to as the “ Captagon Act ,” was included , developing a coordinated strategy across U . S . federal agencies to deny , degrade and dismantle the drug production and trafficking networks connected to the Syrian regime . 14 This centers around :
• Diplomatic and intelligence support to law enforcement investigations
• Use of economic sanctions and other financial tools to target Assad regime-affiliated trafficking networks
• Foreign assistance and training to partner countries and cooperation within multilateral institutions to build counternarcotics capacity and disrupt the illicit synthetic drug supply chain and the precursors used to make Captagon or other illicit synthetic drugs
• Diplomatic engagements and public messaging to exert pressure on the Assad regime
In its report to Congress , the U . S . State Department provided a classified annex with details on identified destination and transit countries , but this has not yet been made public . 15 It also conceded that , “ The [ administration ], including U . S . military forces , has limited ability to affect drug production linked to the Assad regime from within Syria ,” and accordingly is “ focusing its counter-Captagon efforts on addressing the illicit drug supply chain , including production , trafficking , and money laundering .” 16 As such , it is very likely that further sanctions and wider legislation will follow in due course .
For financial institutions ( FIs ) in North America and Europe , detecting Captagon-related money laundering may prove challenging , in part due to the relatively small numbers in those markets at present . FIs should look to ensure they are aware of general drug trafficking money laundering red flags and typologies and integrate forthcoming Captagonspecific red flags and typologies , where relevant , if and when they are issued by governments . Some general typologies and red flags which may be applicable are included in Table 1 and Table 2 .
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