Damascus — In a remote corner outside of Damascus, a now-abandoned potato chip factory lit up one of the overthrow Bashar al-Assad many dark but open secrets of the regime.
A CBS News crew accessed the site, finding a warehouse lined with industrial-scale hydrochloric acid and acetic acid, which are precursor chemicals needed to make captagonone of the most popular street drugs in the Middle East and beyond.
Ahmed Abu Yakin is with Syria Hayat Tahrir al-Shamor HTS, one of the main groups in charge of the country after Assad fled Dec. 8. Yakin says this massive underground Captagon hideout was discovered just days after the rebel group was taken over. The pills are stuffed into large stacks of household voltage regulator kits ready for shipment.
Often called the "poor man's cocaine," Captagon is a highly addictive amphetamine-type stimulant.
"We feel sorry for the young people who were addicted to it," Yakin said. "The Assad regime was destroying a generation and couldn't care less. They only cared about making money."
And that money is staggering. Analysts estimate that the Assad regime earned $5 billion a year from the trade, draining Syria's official budget and turning it into a vital lifeline for the bankrupt state. The drug costs pennies to produce, but can sell for up to $20 per tablet. The haul seen at the abandoned factory is potentially worth tens of millions of dollars.
For years, neighboring countries have accused Assad's Syria of being the world's main supplier of the illegal drug. In March 2023 The US Treasury has sanctioned several Syrians for their alleged involvement in the "dangerous amphetamine", including two of Assad's cousins.
"Syria has become a world leader in the production of the highly addictive captagon, much of which is trafficked through Lebanon," said At the time, Andrea Gacchi, who was then director of the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. "Together with our allies, we will hold accountable those who support the Bashar al-Assad regime with illicit drug proceeds and other financial means that allow the regime to continue to repress the Syrian people."
Now his highly lucrative drug business appears to have been crushed, along with his brutal and corrupt regime. Yakin Captagon has no place in Syria's future.
"We're going to destroy everything," Yakin said. "We will eliminate everything that has to do with drugs and everything that has to do with the criminal regime of Assad.
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