Internal security forces in northern and eastern Syria have scored a major blow against a drug ring. Several couriers and leaders are accused of running the trade together with Turkey's jihadist proxy army.
The internal security forces of northern and eastern Syria have struck a major blow against a drug ring. Investigations had already been underway for months as part of Operation ‘Life Means Responsibility’, which was launched last September in the fight against drugs. According to internal security spokesman Ali al-Hassan, the task force responsible for dealing with organized crime was now able to apprehend and put behind bars several suspected drug couriers and leading figures in the gang last Friday. Several tons of narcotics, including marijuana, raw opium, captagon pills, as well as weapons, ammunition and counterfeit money have been seized in the arrest, which was supported by the anti-terrorist units HAT.
"We launched this operation due to our moral responsibility and legal obligation to society. It is our duty to ensure the social security of northern and eastern Syria and to protect and defend the values of the population," Ali al-Hassan said during a press conference in Qamishlo on Monday.
SNA drug ring
According to Ali al-Hassan, the arrested are accused of smuggling drugs from abroad into the region in an organized manner in cooperation with the "Syrian National Army" (SNA), the jihadist proxy army of the Turkish military in the occupied zone of northern Syria, and then reselling them to dealers and narcotics users. Five of the accused are citizens of the autonomous area. For investigative reasons, Al-Hassan did not say how many people were arrested in total.
The ISIS already traded in Captagon
Among the seized drugs are about 196,000 pills of the stimulant "Captagon" - in European comparison with a street value of about 2.3 million euros. The terrorist militia ISIS in Syria already traded in the synthetic drug. Dozens of weapons and rifles, over sixty magazines for Dragunov sniper rifles, laptops and cell phones were also seized.
Operation continues
"As the General Command of Internal Security, we promise our people that we will fulfill our duties to protect the society and its components from all kinds of crimes. We will continue Operation 'Life Means Responsibility' until we achieve our goals. The fight against drugs is as important to us as the fight against terrorism. Because drugs are among the weapons of terror," al-Hassan said.
