A report published on Wednesday by the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Addiction and the German Federal Criminal Police Office said that Europe has turned into a major transit area for Captagon, which is mainly produced in the Middle East, especially in Syria and Lebanon.
The report notes that recent shipments of Captagon seized in the EU were destined for Gulf states, especially Saudi Arabia.
The report is based on information provided by seven European countries: France, Germany, Austria, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and Romania.
Armed groups linked to the Syrian regime in Lebanon and Syria are seen as playing a role in the Captagon trade. The report also provides evidence suggesting that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime benefits financially from the Captagon trade.
The report stresses the need for a coordinated EU security response, which works to prevent EU territory from being used as a transshipment area for Captagon produced in Syria and Lebanon for markets in and around the Arabian Peninsula.
Captagon pills, whose scientific name is phenethylene, are made by mixing both the central nervous system stimulant amphetamine and theophylline.
The drug was manufactured in early 1961 and was then used to treat children with attention deficit hyperactivity deficit, or as an alternative treatment for narcolepsy and depression. Captagon pills, on the other hand, are very addictive, which is precisely why they have been illegal in most countries of the world since 1986.
It is noteworthy that the trade in Captagon pills expanded in the Middle East to a large extent during 2021 to exceed $ 5 billion, and a report by the American "New Lines" Institute confirmed that the Syrian regime uses this trade as a means of political and economic survival following the sanctions imposed on it, to be classified as the most prominent producer and exporter of these pills.
In March, the US Treasury Department designated figures close to the Assad family for their role in the production and smuggling of Captagon.
On the tenth of last December, the US House of Representatives passed the defense budget bill for the fiscal year 2023, in the amount of $ 858 billion, which includes a project to dismantle the Syrian regime's production of Captagon, before US President Joe Biden signed it.