Traffic accident in Syria reveals huge shipment of illicit drugs

A fatal traffic accident near the Syria-Lebanon border revealed a huge shipment of illicit drugs, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Sunday.

The collision near the village of al-Zarah, around nine kilometers from Lebanon’s northern border, resulted in one death and several injuries.

A large quantity of narcotics including nearly three million pills of the stimulant Captagon and two tons of cannabis were found, sources told the SOHR.

The incident is part of ongoing efforts to flood Syria with drugs by Iran-affiliated militias led by the Lebanese Hezbollah, SOHR claimed.

Ravaged by years of war, the country is emerging as a “narco-state,” with Jordanian intelligence intercepting Hezbollah personnel involved in the drug trade, according to a report by the Middle East Institute (MEI).

SOHR has also reported that areas controlled by the Syrian regime forces are home to drug manufacturing plants run under Hezbollah’s supervision.

These plants reportedly produce large quantities of hashish and Captagon among other narcotics.

Dealers often attempt to smuggle drugs to wealthy Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, where buyers are likely to pay higher prices.

Authorities in Saudi Arabia made one of the biggest seizures of smuggled amphetamine on Wednesday, August 31.

Around 47 million tablets hidden in bags of flour were seized in a shipment that arrived at Riyadh’s dry port and was transferred to a warehouse.

Saudi authorities banned in 2021 imports of Lebanese fruits and vegetables after an attempt to smuggle more than five million Captagon pills inside pomegranates was foiled.

Traffickers from Syria are known to conceal narcotics in various different forms, including shipments of oranges, olives, and pomegranates.

On Tuesday, Syrian authorities even seized 24 kilograms of Captagon that had been crushed and reformed to look like hummus bowls.

Source: Alarabiya