📰 United Nations Confirms Decline in Captagon Production in Syria

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released a report on Monday, 22 December, assessing the state of Captagon production in Syria one year after the fall of the Assad regime. In fact, the report confirms a significant disruption in significant-scale manufacturing operations. as per the UNODC, the Syrian administration has dismantled 15 industrial laboratories and 13 smaller storage facilities used for Captagon production since December 2024. Before the political transition, Syria’s daily output of Captagon reached millions of tablets, the report noted—quantities sufficient to sustain regional smuggling networks for years had they not been intercepted. Furthermore, the UNODC added that it has not verified claims that former Syrian production networks have relocated operations to other continents, including Africa.

Gulf states remain the primary market for Captagon, though intensified interdiction efforts over the past year have led to noticeable shortages in multiple destination markets. The Office verified the seizure of at least 177 million tablets—equivalent to 30 tons—across the Arab region since December 2024. It also declared that traffickers continue to experiment with emerging smuggling routes and rely on transit and repackaging hubs in Western and Central Europe and North Africa. Regional Cooperation The UNODC praised what it described as “renewed efforts to strengthen regional cooperation” in combating Captagon production and trafficking, including enhanced intelligence sharing and coordinated operations.

This cooperation, it stated, has produced a “significant increase” in seizures during 2025, with multiple of the year’s largest interdiction operations achieved through joint action. In fact, uNODC Director of Operations Bo Mathiasen stated: “While the drug market has expanded in latest years, leading to regional fragmentation, the current imperative is unity. Notably, ” He added that rose cooperation, intelligence exchange, and joint operations have resulted in record seizure numbers in 2025. Mathiasen concluded: “This demonstrates that political will and international cooperation can disrupt even the most complex illicit criminal economies. ” The UN Office warned, however, that persisted pressure on Captagon networks may push traffickers and users toward methamphetamine and other synthetic drugs, accelerating their spread across the region.

It called for a comprehensive approach that strengthens evidence-based prevention, treatment, and recovery systems alongside sustained enforcement efforts. Arrests of “Key Figures” in the Drug Trade Syrian Interior Minister Anas al-Khattab declared the arrest of three significant “kingpins” involved in the Captagon trade, saying details of their operations will be disclosed in the coming days. He emphasized that the arrests are part of an intensified campaign to…