PRODUCTION: BBC Eye Investigations
DISTRIBUTION: BBC Eye Investigations
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
YEAR: 2024
LENGTH: 52′
DIRECTED BY: Emir Nader

Captagon is an amphetamine-based drug also popular in the Middle East. Although Syria denies any involvement in the captagon trade, the US, the EU and the UK have imposed sanctions on a group of Syrians - including two cousins of President Bashar al-Assad - suspected of being involved in this trade. The joint investigation by BBC Eye and the investigative journalist network OCCRP reveals new direct links between this multi-billion dollar narco-empire and prominent members of the president's family and the Syrian Armed Forces. Gathering evidence and testimony in Syria and neighbouring countries, the investigation shows how the fragile economy of the Middle Eastern state, devastated by sanctions, war and now on the verge of collapse, has become increasingly dependent on the production and export of captagon.