2023-12-21 05:01:47
exclusive
Investigators have seized the largest amount of Captagon in Germany to date – a sales value of around 60 million euros. The drug is manufactured in illegal factories primarily in Syria and Lebanon.
By Arne Meyer-Fünffinger, BR, Margherita Bettoni, Ludwig Kendzia, Nadja Malak, MDR, Olaf Sundermeyer, RBB and Ahmet Senyurt, SWR
Two things particularly surprised the investigators from the Essen Customs Investigation Office (ZFA) on this October day: the quantity and the professionalism. They had just seized 300 kilograms of Captagon in a garage complex on the motorway near Aachen.
On the same day, four suspects were arrested in the Aachen area – Syrians between the ages of 33 and 45, including a man who was last registered in Vienna. All four have since been in custody in North Rhine-Westphalia.
460 Kilogramm Captagon
Together with finds in recent months at Cologne/Bonn and Leipzig/Halle airports, for which the four suspects are also said to be responsible, the find adds up to 460 kilograms of Captagon.
According to research by BR, MDR, SWR, RBB, Together with the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” and the Mediengruppe Bayern there are a total of 3.2 million tablets with a street value of around 60 million euros.
Customs investigators seized 300 kilograms of Captagon in a garage complex near Aachen.
The smugglers had hidden most of the tablets from the discovery near Aachen between 16 tons of sand, which were stacked in sacks on pallets. “They were normal sandbags from the hardware store, with original printing,” says investigator Andreas B. *) later in the interview.
“The perpetrators packed the Captagon bags in these sandbags and then embedded them in a small outer layer of sand. So that when you looked at the bags externally, even if you felt them, you mightn’t detect any tablets.”
The investigation took around a year
The discovery on October 5th was preceded by a good year of investigations. Last fall, customs initially discovered ten kilograms of the amphetamine tablets in a disguised shipment in the parcel center at Cologne/Bonn Airport, inside seven packages of brake cylinders with the destination Bahrain.
The drugs were discovered during a check on an X-ray machine. This was followed by three further finds hidden in an air filter, as well as at Leipzig/Halle Airport in a load of scented candles and a pizza oven, each with an addressee in Saudi Arabia.
The investigations by the Essen Customs Investigation Office are underway under the leadership of the Aachen Public Prosecutor’s Office, Organized Crime Department. It is regarding suspicion of “commercial and gang-related smuggling and trafficking of narcotics in large quantities,” according to the Aachen public prosecutor’s office.
This is currently examining possible connections to other Captagon proceedings involving Syrian suspects. Three men were convicted in Essen last year as part of an international smuggling ring.
A production site for Captagon tablets was excavated in Regensburg in July. Two Syrians were arrested there. During the arrest, investigators found 300 kilograms of Captagon tablets. In addition, raw materials were found for the possible production of a good three tons of Captagon. The public prosecutor’s office in Ellwangen is investigating this matter.
So far only a “minor role”
The spokeswoman for the Aachen public prosecutor’s office, Katja Schlenkermann-Pitts, referred to this in an interview with the ARD-Network of BR, MDR, RBB and SWR that Captagon has so far only played a minor role in drug crime in the Federal Republic.
Looking at the cases in Ellwangen, Essen and Cologne/Bonn or also in Aachen and Leipzig “and also the market value of all these tablets, this naturally suggests that this might be an organized group of perpetrators that is also active across borders.” said the spokeswoman. She therefore announced that she wanted to “further shed light on these structures and connections” for her authority.
After 60 kilograms of Captagon tablets were found on a man from Syria in Berlin two years ago, the case was stopped three months later because no suspects might be identified.
No comparison with other procedures
The tablets were brought to Berlin from Lebanon and were intended for onward transport to Belgium. A spokesman for the Berlin public prosecutor’s office said this ARDnetwork when asked that there had so far been no comparison with procedures in other federal states. In the event of new findings in the investigation, he announced the possible resumption of the proceedings.
According to research by BR, MDR, SWR, RBB, the FAZ and the “Mediengruppe Bayern”, the total value of finds in Germany in the past three years amounts to half a billion euros. Experts assume that the number of unreported cases is many times higher. It is estimated that only around ten percent of the contraband can be intercepted.
Syrian government involved in business?
Captagon is mainly manufactured in illegal factories in Syria and Lebanon and is mainly smuggled into the Arab world. The Syrian government is suspected of being involved in this multi-billion dollar business. In many cases, the goods are smuggled to Europe by land or sea, are repackaged in containers with so-called camouflage goods and then sent on to the Arab region by ship or plane.
The drug hit global headlines in early October following Israeli media reported that some Hamas terrorists were carrying Captagon tablets during their October 7 attacks.
In the hope of finding another Captagon, customs investigator Andreas B. and his team went out for another search last Thursday. This time to a garage yard in Herzogenrath near Aachen.
They had previously found a rental agreement for one of the suspects. When Andreas B. finally opens this garage door in the drizzle, he may get another clue regarding the professionalism of the perpetrators. His gaze falls into an empty, swept-clean room.
*) Name changed by the editors
Arne Meyer-Fünffinger, BR, tagesschau, December 21, 2023 6:33 a.m
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