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Foreign Correspondent: This Week (ABC TV Thursday 28 September 2023)

Published

3 months ago

September 27, 2023

Foreign Correspondent: This Week airs Thursday 28 September 2023 on ABC TV.

What is this episode about

The Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad is supported by a multibillion dollar illegal drug trade. This week on Foreign Correspondent, sources spill the beans on the drug trade in Syria and reveal how high-ranking officials in the president’s family and the armed forces are involved.

Captagon is a highly addictive drug that is widely used by young people in the Middle East. It has been called the “poor man’s cocaine.” The Jordanian and Lebanese armies have made significant efforts to prevent the smuggling of Captagon across their borders, but the drug is still turning up in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Due to low pay, some Syrian soldiers have turned to drug dealing, and this investigation reveals that the elite Fourth Division is shielding these soldiers from punishment. Maher al-Assad, the president’s younger brother, is in charge of this group.

Syria is now, in all but name, a narco state. A former US special envoy to Syria says drug trafficking profits are enormous compared to Syria’s state budget. “If Captagon revenues were stopped or seriously disrupted, I don’t think the Assad regime could survive that,” he said.