Syria says dismantled international drug smuggling network, seized shipment coming from Lebanon

The Syrian Interior Ministry announced on Saturday that it dismantled an international drug smuggling network operating in the Damascus countryside, noting that a large shipment was seized which had arrived from Lebanon and was intended for smuggling through Syrian territory to neighboring countries.

"The Anti-Narcotics Department carried out a series of complex and high-quality security operations in the [Rankous area] in the Damascus countryside. These operations resulted in dismantling an international smuggling link, uncovering secret manufacturing sites, and targeting local drug distribution hubs," the statement reads.

The Ministry noted that a "large shipment was seized, containing approximately one million Captagon pills and one kilogram of hashish, which had arrived from Lebanon and was intended for smuggling through Syrian territory to neighboring countries," adding that "three prominent members of the network were also arrested: (A.S), (M.B), and (A.A).

According to the statement, the department also carried out a precise security operation in the city of Jaramana, leading to the "arrest of a drug dealer who had been impersonating a security officer to facilitate his criminal activities in promoting and transporting narcotics."

In March, the official Syrian news agency SANA reported that a "smuggling" tunnel connecting Syrian and Lebanese territories was discovered by the Syrian army in Hosh al-Sayed Ali, a border village straddling the two countries, adding that it was "used for smuggling purposes by Lebanese militias and has been closed."

Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime on Dec. 8, 2024, Damascus has regularly announced seizures of Captagon and smuggled weapons at the border with Lebanon. Captagon, an illegal synthetic amphetamine, became Syria's main export during the civil war that broke out in 2011, constituting a major source of funding for the former deposed regime, which had turned the country into a narco-state.

The new Syrian authorities have previously accused Hezbollah, a former ally of the Assad regime, of being involved in trafficking across the two countries’ border. The United States had also accused Hezbollah of Captagon trafficking.

In Lebanon, authorities announced in September that they had dismantled an international drug trafficking network and stopped a shipment of hashish and Captagon bound for Saudi Arabia. Lebanese Army and security services have stepped up the fight against drug trafficking in recent months under pressure from the Gulf countries, after these amphetamines have flooded the region.