Lebanese Army Seizes 1.2 Million Captagon Pills in Drug Smuggling Bust

BEIRUT: (News Desk) – The Lebanese army has seized approximately 1.2 million Captagon pills that were allegedly being prepared for smuggling out of the country, according to the military.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Lebanese army said that security forces arrested two suspects while they were packing the synthetic narcotic pills into a vehicle in an area north of Beirut.

Captagon, an amphetamine-like synthetic drug, has become a major concern in the Middle East, with Gulf countries putting pressure on Lebanon and Syria to step up efforts against its production and trafficking.

The drug trade expanded significantly in Syria following the outbreak of the civil war in 2011 and became a major source of illicit revenue for the government of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

Following Assad’s fall in 2024, authorities in Damascus have sought to crack down on the Captagon trade. Lebanon and Syria have also increased efforts to prevent drug smuggling across their approximately 330-kilometre border.

The latest seizure highlights continued regional efforts to disrupt the trafficking of Captagon, which has increasingly affected countries across the Middle East.