Dec 25 (UPI) – Jordan’s customs office confiscated one of its illegal drug shipments, preventing 6 million Captagon tablets from reaching the Iraqi border.
Captagon, a logo name for phenethylline hydrochloride, is a highly addictive amphetamine drug known internationally but very prevalent in the Middle East. The man-made drug is a stimulant that is largely produced in Europe and transported to the Middle East via Turkey, according to the U. S. Department of Justice.
The main points about how many other people were arrested in the raid or where the pills would be delivered have not been made public.
Small doses of the drug cause a buildup in heart rate, body temperature, breathing and blood pressure. It can have several long-term side effects, including depression, lack of sleep, and cardiovascular damage.
A 2021 Guardian suggests Captagon has links to very visual figures in Syria.
“The manufacture of Captagon in the center of the regime has one of Syria’s only recent commercial successes; a developing industry so giant and complicated that it is beginning to compete with the GDP of the stagnant economy itself,” the article reads.
“Although Captagon trafficking was once among the investment resources used through anti-state armed groups, territorial consolidation has allowed the Assad regime and its key regional allies to consolidate their role as the main beneficiaries of Syrian drug trafficking,” COAR said.