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Meet Captagon: The Drug Of Choice For Today's Anxious Jihadist
Submitted by Michaela Whitton via TheAntiMedia.org,
Dubbed the “jihadist’s drug,” Captagon is rapidly flooding the Middle East and is said to be fueling the bloody conflict in Syria. French media recently reported that the Paris attackers may have taken the drug.
Last weekend, Turkish anti-narcotics police seized 11 million Captagon pills in a haul that weighed almost two tonnes. It was set to ship to Gulf countries. Widely banned since the mid-eighties, the pills provide a cheap and long-lasting high and are highly addictive. They also have the potential to cause psychosis and brain damage.
The production of the drug, which keeps fighters awake over long periods of time, is said to be providing income for all factions involved in the Syrian war.
During the last year, shipments of Captagon have been seized on the way to the West Bank, Jordan, Sudan, Syria and the Gulf. In October, Anti-Media reported on a Saudi prince who was arrested for trying to smuggle two tons of the drug onto a plane.
As Syria has been engulfed in war, smugglers of the little-known, highly addictive pills have been forced to find alternate routes through Lebanon.
Lebanese journalist Radwan Mortada has spent 10 years investigating crime, corruption, and the war in Syria. In his documentary for Journeyman Pictures, The Drug Fueling Conflict in Syria, Mortada follows the Captagon trail, from users on the battlefields to traffickers on Lebanese smuggling routes to the kingpins at the top of the supply chain.
“There was no fear anymore”
Since the Syrian war began, police in the region have continued to seize record-breaking numbers of the pills. Lebanon’s biggest haul to date was a whopping 50 million tablets with a street value of $300 million, weighing over 4 tonnes, en route to Dubai.
In Mortada’s documentary, men in Beirut are shown crushing the pills and chopping them into lines. They describe the effects as “better than cocaine” and “really strong and like morphine — for really strong pains.” Their experience points to why Captagon has become the drug of choice for some Syrian fighters.
“There was no fear anymore after I took Captagon,” one ex-fighter said.
“It stops you feeling anything, you know? It makes you numb, numb,” said another, who described the first time he took the drug as making him feel physically fit.
“If there were 10 people in front of you, you could catch them and kill them. You’re awake all the time,” he said.
Since 2013, Captagon smuggling in Lebanon has skyrocketed. The Syrian war has not only pushed smuggling through the country, but has allowed gangs to set up makeshift Captagon factories in the country itself.
Mortada’s documentary is the first time an illegal factory has ever been filmed. It shows the pills being packaged and disguised in packets of tissues. Factory workers reveal that they use vegetables, bread, and hair gel for smuggling in Lebanon’s home-grown Captagon trade.
Shia militant group Hezbollah—currently fighting in Syria for the Assad regime—has also been accused of being involved in the trade after two factories were discovered on its premises.
“Standing on their feet”
On the surface, Abu Zeus looks just like a wealthy businessman, but he has been funding Captagon factories for years. He fled Syria when the war began and now resides in Europe. It took Mortada months to persuade him to be interviewed.
Described as being at the top of the supply chain, Abu Zeus boasts on camera of a $6 million profit last year from trading the small pills. The Syrian brigades that have publicly named him as a benefactor number in the thousands, according to Mortada.
Opposed to both the regime and jihadist groups, Abu Zeus brags of keeping the secular groups in Syria “standing on their feet.’’ He boasts of ‘supporting’ around 12,000 armed men.
He claims the Saudis love the drug because of the country’s alcohol ban and admits that selling to them has made him a great deal of money. He’s adamant that his drug profits counter the money from Saudi Arabia that he believes is funding jihadist groups and destroying Syria:
“The truth is that the country that exports terrorism to the Middle East and the protector of terrorism is Saudi Arabia,” he said.
He continued: “The fight is not a revolution anymore, it is a fight between seculars and Salafists — a fight between countries.”
Going some way towards explaining why Captagon is tailor-made for the battlefield—and why some have come to rely on the drug after five years of fighting—another fighter described the drug’s effects. He was frank:
“You don’t have any problems. You don’t even thinking about sleeping or leaving the checkpoint. It gives you great courage and power,” he said.
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"I'm glad that ZH has done this article, whose concept was first alluded to by ZH bloggers, who referred to Captagon a number of times."
Goinfawr:
<breathes on/polishes fingernails on shirtfront>
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-04/its-just-not-saudi-arabias-year...
imagine that, and it all started out with hash...they've graduated fools school...
Kirk, here is the article on Ziv by Aaron Patrick A ride on the Israeli lobbying machine from your linked Voltairenet.org story in the Australian Financial Review (AFR.com) : http://www.afr.com/news/world/middle-east/inside-the-israeli-lobbying-ma...
Archived copy: http://web.archive.org/web/20151128195519/http://www.afr.com/news/world/...
From the article:
Captagon is Akbar!
All that crap that muslims don't do drugs and alcohol is all just crap.
Likewise Mormons and Amish. The JWs, curiously, walk the walk.
"Likewise Mormons and Amish." I have no personal experience with the Amish but I can tell you that Mormons love their vices and don't think twice about indulging them. Hypocrites and liars all.
Tainted drugs would be super bad for ISIS. As would a lice outbreak? A high pitched hum/buzzing that never stops? Spun is spun. A change in potentcy up or down is going to screw them up bigtime. If pills in the same bottle have both 1/4 to 5x dosages things get funky fast. Just saying play with fire.
"Tainted drugs would be super bad for ISIS."
What would be even worse for them would be a confrontation with an army of bare-breasted women.
Bait girls worked well in Poland in ww2.
"God may forgive me, but that's not enough; because I have to live with myself, 'til I am dust." Dan Auberch
When you're high attempting to climb any ladder, let alone Jacob's, is a risky endeavour at best.
No sleep, psychosis and brain damage - sounds like islam
i guarantee you allah can suck dicks
Excelent drug for 24/7 humaniod high frequency trading.
Greed, Oil, Drugs, the Daesh have learned to spell GOD.
you mean their pedophile god right? you know the one from quaran...
Great. Just when I was practicing my shirk and nationalism. People on drugs with missile.
htttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/isis-teenage-poster-girl-was-cha...
“There was no fear anymore after I took Captagon,” one ex-fighter said.
until they're dead! oooorah
This actually explains A LOT! You see, Captagon is such a terrible chem that not even the tweekers on erowid will admit to using it... only a pure stupid idiot about to blow themselves up (or take a bullet for a government) would chemically destroy their system with a drug more powerful than meth.
The irony of killing infidels with having to take pills because they lack the courage from their faith...
Maybe this jump from Islamic Radical to Islamic Terrorist is nothing more than quick drug addiction through Captagon provided by Imams in their mosques, much like the old "Hashassins" of medieval India.
The answer may lie in cyanide laced Captagon pills entering the Islamic radical logistic pipeline?
first time I heard of this drug.
sounds like your standard Boring Opiate Derivative to me.
Nazis used amphetamines all during ww2, doesnt make you superman, just makes you incautious and dead...and if you use it too long you end up an addict and a psycho wreck.
and Shkreli has nothing to do with this.....is smell price hikes....
I have serious doubts about the credibility of this video.
I'm sure they are all actors.
No one with half a brain would let anyone video them showing their method of making, packing and smuggling this drug.
But when she say's that the guy who actually funds the whole operation agreed to an interview with her, that did if for me.
Interesting and probably a good account but certainly played out by actors.
I thought it reeked of propaganda and then I saw it was BBC. That tells it all.
Captagon...the new force multiplier ingredient coming to MREs
hey, I heard DocRAM say it is confirmed that Reedsport Oregon was recently test sprayed on using Lithium.
on youtube you can see a July 4th 2013 rocket launch of a lithium test the Pentagram did over the East Coast ... .
i've seen bbc stories on captagon going way back to 2005 or so ... probably have it stored in a file somewhere... {i do love digital storage :)))}
I come to this site to learn about things the mainstream media ignores, but I accept that I will have to filter the right-wing, conspiracy theory, religious, racist, and plain old ignorant bullshit that accounts for more and more of the content. This article is part of the bullshit.
Captagon is low grade speed. Its effects are no more likely to fuel cruelty or delusional beliefs than excessive coffee drinking or alcohol abuse. Any actions taken under the influence of Captagon would have been done without it. It is a small...nay, tiny, part of this entire discussion. Finance the war with Captagon? Hah! Clueless drivel. Oil finances this war.
But, hey, it's more fun to write about this stuff than reality. Keep up the good work.
We invite you to go fuck yourself. -- The rest of us
You said "nay"
If you think this website is biased, why don't you go elsewhere for your news and information?
People who talk about this website pushing or sympathizing with "right wing conspiracy theory, religious people and racists" are as dumb as people who see the world in terms of Republicans versus Democrats. Might as well argue about Coke v. Pepsi. It is all labeling. And you are a labeler.
The better approach is to look at what is going on in terms of a Liberty versus Tyranny continuum, that is, principles.
I don't read the article as saying Captagon is a super performance drug of any kind other than the fact that a couple of people they interviewed apparently think it worked that way for them and maybe that's because they are taking it by the handful. So I disagree with your premise, which you use to attack this website. Go read Salon and Daily Kos. Those adolescent rags would be more up your alley. You can get your Confirmation Bias there.
I don't see anything "right wing" or conspriracy-related, religious, or racist about this article. You'd have to be biased yourself to read that into it.
There is no other news source in the world like ZH. We should be thankful for it.
Wouldn't it be funny if they added a little pork powder to the recipe? Pork powder... Get it? I would. Then I'd laugh my mother fucking ass off. Pork Powder, bitches!
Moderate extremists on drugs?
What drug do they give their prisoners .... before they cut their nheads off ?
Someone should write a book on the pharmacopeia that is utilized on the battlefield.
History repeats:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1371512/Nazis-fed-speed-infantry...
"They also have the potential to cause psychosis and brain damage".
These fuckers already have that anyway so not really a side effect.
Material world belongs to the devil
Drugs , sex, violence, disease & death belong to the devil
If you enjoy drugs , you belong to the devil
or become a ghost for a thousand years craving