A current report highlights the pivotal function performed by the EU within the cargo of Captagon drugs from the Center East to the Gulf area.

Europe has turn into a pivotal transshipment level for the Syrian-made amphetamine often called Captagon because it strikes from the Center East to the Gulf area, a report has discovered.

The report revealed by the European Monitoring Centre for Medicine and Drug Dependancy (EMCDDA) and the German Federal Felony Police Workplace on Wednesday famous that substantial portions of Captagon seized throughout the European Union (EU) have been supposed for rerouting to the Gulf, primarily Saudi Arabia.

Syria is by far the world’s largest producer of the addictive amphetamine-type stimulant tablet, which is being smuggled to international locations throughout the area.

Regardless of being outlawed throughout the globe after it was first produced within the Nineteen Sixties in Germany, Captagon is feeding occasion scenes within the Center East. For years, it has reportedly offered an important monetary lifeline to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who turned more and more remoted after his regime’s actions in the course of the civil warfare in Syria that started greater than a decade in the past.

Based on the report, trafficking operations embrace direct rerouting of shipments or sending deliveries onwards after repackaging throughout the EU.

Some Syrian and Lebanese nationals residing in EU member states have been ceaselessly implicated in these operations.

The report additionally claimed that Lebanese and Syrian armed teams linked to the Syrian authorities play a task within the Captagon commerce, with monetary advantages accruing to the al-Assad regime.

Regardless of the substantial portions of Captagon transiting by the EU, member states haven’t reported vital home use of the drug.

Along with Captagon tablets being trafficked into the EU, the report says a few of the tablets are produced inside Europe, principally within the Netherlands.

Dutch police have uncovered giant manufacturing websites that yield Captagon tablets from amphetamine powder.

Rising seizures

The report notes a constant improve in Captagon pill seizures within the EU since 2018.

EU member states collectively reported seizing 127 million tablets and 1,773kg (2 tonnes) of the drug in the course of the knowledge assortment interval for this report. The biggest single seizure of 84 million tablets was in Salerno, Italy in 2020.

In the meantime, Saudi Arabia reported confiscating a staggering 73 tonnes of amphetamine in 2021, in comparison with simply 18 tonnes in 2016.

The report, which gathered data from seven EU member states, underscored an pressing want for a coordinated response to stem the commerce and transit of Captagon by the EU.