Syria’s Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said the suspect was detained in the town of Nasib after intelligence-led surveillance identified his whereabouts. The operation forms part of a broader effort by the country’s interim authorities to dismantle trafficking organizations and eliminate narcotics production that expanded during the rule of former President Bashar Assad.

According to a statement carried by the state news agency SANA, security personnel confiscated 15,960 Captagon tablets, 5,560 narcotic pharmaceutical pills and a quantity of medium-caliber weapons and ammunition during the raid.

The arrest is the latest in a series of anti-drug operations launched since the change of government in December 2024. Syrian authorities have pledged to dismantle the country’s narcotics industry, which has long been associated with large-scale Captagon production and regional smuggling networks.

Last week, President Ahmad Al-Sharaa described combating narcotics as “a national program and a shared responsibility,” saying Syria had inherited a significant drug trafficking problem from the previous government. Speaking on the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on June 26, he said the administration was committed to destroying production facilities, disrupting smuggling routes and expanding cooperation with regional and international partners.

The Interior and Health ministries have since launched a nationwide initiative titled “Drug-Free Syria,” combining law enforcement operations with rehabilitation and treatment programs aimed at addressing drug abuse alongside trafficking.

Brigadier General Khaled Eid, director of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said authorities have conducted 1,550 anti-drug operations since the fall of Assad’s government. According to official figures, those operations have dismantled 90 international trafficking networks and shut down 17 Captagon production facilities.

Officials said the campaign has resulted in the seizure of approximately 697 million Captagon pills, 15 metric tons of hashish, 10 million narcotic pharmaceutical tablets, 180 kilograms of cocaine, 84.5 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine and seven kilograms of heroin. Authorities also reported confiscating 221 metric tons of chemical precursors used in narcotics manufacturing.

The latest operation follows another major seizure earlier this week, when Syrian security forces intercepted an attempt to smuggle more than 832,000 Captagon tablets from Lebanon into the Al-Nabek district. One suspect was arrested in that operation.

Captagon, an amphetamine-type stimulant, has become one of the Middle East’s most widely trafficked illicit drugs, with Syria previously identified by international organizations as a major production hub.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has said large-scale Captagon production in Syria was significantly disrupted following the removal of Assad’s government in December 2024. However, the agency has noted that substantial drug seizures continue across the region, reflecting ongoing efforts by authorities to dismantle the remaining trafficking infrastructure and cross-border smuggling networks.

An estimated 331 million people, or 6.2% of the global population aged 15 to 64, used illicit drugs in 2024, according to the UNODC’s 2026 World Drug Report. The figure marks an increase from 5.2% of the same age group in 2014, reflecting a decade-long upward trend in global drug consumption.

Cannabis remained the world’s most widely used drug in 2024, followed by opioids, amphetamines, cocaine and ecstasy. The report said cannabis users increased by 40% between 2014 and 2024, aided in part by legalization and decriminalization policies in several jurisdictions.

The agency expressed particular concern over the rapid expansion of synthetic opioids, including fentanyls, nitazenes and orphines, which are increasingly being marketed as substitutes for heroin.

“We have seen an unprecedented spike in new types of drugs on the market, and worryingly, some are more potent or dangerous than before,” UNODC Executive Director Monica Juma said in a statement.

The report said illicit manufacturers were developing new synthetic compounds to evade regulations and law enforcement, with drug seizures in 2024 identifying five times more drug types than were detected before 2000.

The number of new psychoactive substances circulating in global drug markets reached 755 in 2024, including 118 substances reported for the first time, underscoring the accelerating pace of innovation within illicit drug networks.

The global heroin trade also continued to feel the effects of Afghanistan’s 2022 ban on poppy cultivation imposed by the Taliban, prompting traffickers to increasingly shift toward synthetic alternatives.

“A turn away from plant-based opiates toward synthetics could cause a permanent shift in the global opioid market, with ramifications on how these drugs are used and the harms therein,” the report said.

The UNODC also reported the emergence of new methamphetamine markets beyond traditional production centers, with supplies increasingly originating from Myanmar as well as North America, West and Southern Africa, and Southwest Asia.

Cocaine production expanded more than fourfold over the past decade, with traffickers increasing shipments not only to established markets in Europe, the Americas and Oceania but also to rapidly growing markets across Africa and Asia, the report said.

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UNODC, United Nations, World Drug Report, synthetic drugs, fentanyl, nitazenes, opioids, cannabis, cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy, new psychoactive substances, drug trafficking, Afghanistan, Taliban, Myanmar, global health, organized crime, illicit drugs, Vienna, narcotics, public health