Iraq says tip-off to Lebanon led to destruction of captagon factory

One of the largest factories in Lebanon making the highly addictive amphetamine captagon has been discovered and destroyed as part of rare security cooperation between intelligence agencies in Iraq and Lebanon, Iraq’s Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.

The announcement came a month after the Lebanese army issued a statement about the discovery of a drug factory in Yammoune village in the eastern Bekaa Valley with large amounts of drugs inside.

Iraq's Interior Ministry said the Lebanese operation in mid-July came after Iraqi authorities gave Beirut information about the factory.

A senior Lebanese security official on Tuesday said it was not clear why Iraqi authorities made the announcement on Monday, adding that Lebanon’s security agencies are always in contact with Arab and international security agencies.

Regional states are intensifying efforts to fight the drug trade.

The vast majority of the world’s captagon is produced in neighbouring Syria, with some production in Lebanon.

Western governments estimate that captagon has generated billions of euros in revenue for former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, his associates and allies.

The former regime in Damascus denied those accusations.

After al-Assad was removed from power in December when fighters led by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa took over Damascus, the fight against drug production intensified in Lebanon and Syria.

In February, the interior ministers of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Iraq held talks in Amman to discuss ways to combat the illegal drug trade and agreed to set up a joint telecommunications cell to exchange information.

Smugglers have used Jordan as a corridor to smuggle captagon pills out of Syria, mainly to oil-rich Arab Gulf states.