Why Captagon Flows Freely In Syria?

 

The Black desert, a forbidding plateau covered with volcanic rock that stretches between Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia has few guests – Drug Smugglers and Shepherds. It is only these two categories of people who navigate steep slopes, carrying drugs from Assad regime territory in Syria into Arab Peninsula. This is a rugged 50,000 square kilometre desert which serves the booming trade in Captagon.

There is a sharp increase in the drug trafficking from Syria this year, says Arab security officials, helping to turn smuggling into a major component of the geo-political struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran. 

As per local officials, drug trade is growing due to the high profitability to businessman close to the government in the Syrian regime and its allies –including Hezbollah and Iran-backed militias. “The problem is that there is no security partner on the other side of the Jordanian border,” a senior Jordanian official said on condition of anonymity.

“In such rugged terrain it is virtually impossible to stop the Captagon flows from Syria,” he said. Business is going-on for easy cash, usually carried by the local tribes living in border region as they know the territory better than anyone and can co-operate with smugglers on both sides

A senior Jordanian official said on condition of anonymity, shared While Saudi Arabia is the region’s main drugs market, “don’t underestimate Captagon demand in Jordan and Israel”. He pointed out that some of the Syrian Captagon makes its way to Israel through the Wadi Araba region in southern Jordan.

Local media has reported the drugs trafficking repeatedly on the Jordan’s border with Syrian government-held areas in recent months, while high ranking Jordanian and Syrian officials have met several times to discuss the smuggling.

Efforts have been done by the Syrian and Jordan defence people. In a recent incident AAli Ayyoub, Syrian Defence Minister and Chief of Staff, visited Jordan last week and met Jordanian Chief of Staff Yousef Hunaiti.

The two officials discussed “joint efforts to combat cross-border smuggling operations, especially drugs,” the Jordanian military said. A few days later in New York, the Jordanian and Syrian foreign ministers discussed “the security of the border in ways to serve the interests of the two countries”, the Jordanian foreign ministry said.