Lebanese army says seizes ‘one of the largest’ captagon factories to date

The Lebanese army said in a statement on Monday that it dismantled “one of the largest” captagon factories during a raid in the northeastern Baalbek province near neighboring Syria, previously the largest exporter of the amphetamine-like narcotic.

In a statement, the army said that “after the intelligence directorate received information about a major captagon pill factory in the town of Yammouneh, Baalbek, a patrol from the directorate, supported by an army unit, raided the factory.”

The military added that the factory “turned out to be one of the largest factories seized to date.”

Soldiers dismantled the machinery and seized a “large quantity” of pills, though the army did not specify how many.

Captagon became Syria’s largest export following the eruption of the civil war in 2011, and a key source of illicit funding for former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

In Lebanon, al-Assad’s ally Hezbollah also faced accusations of using the captagon trade to finance itself.

The drug has flooded the region, with neighboring countries occasionally announcing captagon seizures and asking Lebanon and Syria to ramp up efforts to combat the trade.