these are what captagon pills look like like any other tablet, in fact but these are illegal, highly addictive, amphetamine type stimulants that are being mass produced in syria. this drug is right now being found in europe, africa and asia. and now bbc news arabic working with journalism organisation occrp has uncovered links between this multi billion dollar drugs trade and leading members of syrian president bashar al assad s family and elite members of the armed forces. emir nadir has this exclusive report. the arab world is fighting a war. it s the arab world is fighting a war. it s enemy is a drug called captagon. captagon is a type of amphetamine that s illegal and highly addictive.
some opaque arrangements that allowed them to profit sometimes up to 25% from the materials they were taking out of syria s ground. to 25% from the materials they were taking out of syria s ground.- taking out of syria s ground. wagner and therefore taking out of syria s ground. wagner and therefore russia taking out of syria s ground. wagner and therefore russia found - taking out of syria s ground. wagner and therefore russia found a - taking out of syria s ground. wagner and therefore russia found a very i and therefore russia found a very successful model in syria and they wanted to replicate it. and so they did. expanding across africa. a bigger success was in the central african republic. the bigger success was in the central african republic. african republic. the long-time strongman african republic. the long-time strongman of african republic. the long-time strongman of the african republic. the long-time strongman of the central- african republic. the long-time| str
that the regime can be swept aside without a lot of bloodshed or civil war. mr khodorkovsky, thank you very much for talking to newsnight. thank you. thank you, thank you. bye bye. what now for the brutal mercenaries, the wagner group, which is a money making outfit still operating in syria and parts of africa? and what now for its leader, former hotdog seller yevgeny prigozhin? today, he said in an ii minute audio message on telegram that he hadn t wanted to overthrow president putin. here s our international editor, nawal al maghafi. in the ten years since its founding, the wagner group has evolved from a small guns for hire operation into a sprawling network that has been proven to be active in at least four continents. once one of the most secretive organisations in russia, it s emerged from the shadows and into the spotlight as an incredibly powerful force in ukraine. so powerful, some would say,
gaining hard evidence from inside syria is difficult but one story reported in local media caught our eye. on the 11th of september 2022, a pick up truck crashed on its way to the port city of tartus. the vehicle contained two tonnes of hashish and 3 million captagon pills. the two men in the truck were brothers. one was killed, the other arrested on drug trafficking charges. the vehicle itself didn t have numberplates, a sign it belongs to the military. the brothers came from the home of the al assad family. intrigued, we managed to find their social media profiles and tracked down to people who knew the brothers. i tracked down to people who knew the brothers. ~