March 28 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Government of the United States has announced on Tuesday sanctions against six people, including two cousins of the president of Syria, Bashar al Assad, accused of drug trafficking, specifically captagon, and of supporting the president of the Arab country in the framework of the war unleashed in 2011.
The US Treasury Department has indicated in a statement that those sanctioned are four Syrian citizens -among them Samer Kamal al Assad and Uasim Badi al Assad, cousins of the president- and two Lebanese, including Hassan Muhamad Daqu, known as ‘the king of the captagon’.
Thus, he has indicated that Samer Kamal al Assad “supervises key captagon production sites in Latakia” along with elements of the Lebanese Shiite party-militia Hezbollah, while Uasin Badi al Assad has supported the Fourth Division of the Syrian Army, led by Maher al Assad, brother of the president.
The Treasury Department has specified that Washington “has taken measures in coordination with partners in the United Kingdom” to sanction two Lebanese for “supporting the regime of the Syrian president” and “producing or exporting captagon, a dangerous amphetamine.”
Likewise, he has explained that the sanctions “also underline the important role of Lebanese drug traffickers, some of whom maintain ties with Hezbollah, when it comes to facilitating the export of captagon”, before specifying that “it is estimated that the trade de captagon has become a multi-billion dollar illegal company.”
“This action also underlines the importance of the Al Assad family in the illicit trafficking of captagon and in its financing of the repressive Syrian regime,” he stressed.
The director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Andrea Gacki, has stated that “Syria has become a global leader in the production of the highly addictive captagon, much of which is trafficked through Lebanon.” .
“Together with our allies, we will hold accountable those who support the Assad regime with funds derived from illegal drugs and other financial means that allow the regime to continue its repression against the Syrian people,” he concluded.
