The Captagon Trade is quickly becoming the Middle East’s most disruptive human security challenges in the region. While the trade had an estimated value of $3.46 billion in 2020, based on large-scale seizures alone the potential value of the retail trade in 2021 is estimated at over $5.7 billion.
As Captagon production patterns have shifted in Syria from smaller, fragmented operations in rebel-held areas to industrial, containerized operations in territories held by the regime of President Bashar al Assad. Smuggling operations are becoming more sophisticated, and new overland and maritime routes are being identified, posing a severe challenge to law enforcement agencies in the region and internationally.
