Hezbollah denies links to tons of amphetamines seized in Italy
Nasrallah stressed that Hezbollah would "fire any young man in the party if it becomes evident that he is using drugs in any way."
By Tzvi Joffre, Jerusalem Post, January 10, 2021
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An Italian customs officers displays confiscated Captagon pills (photo credit: REUTERS) |
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah denied on Friday that
the terrorist organization was involved in the drug trade from Syria,
including a shipment of the amphetamine Captagon that was seized by
Italian authorities in the summer, according to the BBC.
The Italian authorities said during the summer that they had seized about 14 tonnes (15.4 US tons) of the amphetamine Captagon arriving
from Syria – about 84 million pills, worth around $1 billion – in what
they described as the world’s single largest operation of its kind.
The Italian police initially thought that Islamic State was behind
the transaction. But after digging further, they pointed the finger at
the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad and his close Lebanese ally,
Hezbollah.
“The
issue of drugs in Hezbollah is a legal issue, and it is categorically
forbidden to use, trade in, manufacture or help with this,” said
Nasrallah during a speech on Friday.
Nasrallah stressed that Hezbollah would “fire any young man in the party if it becomes evident that he is using drugs in any way.”
“We
must find a solution for the media that deals with this issue,
especially for the Lebanese media,” added Nasrallah. “This Lebanese
contribution to this false and fabricated case against the party is
something that cannot be tolerated in any way, because you show that we
are criminals and murderers, and we do not accept that anyone accuses us
in this way.”
The
Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar news attacked The Jerusalem Post for
publishing a report on the alleged Hezbollah link to the amphetamines
seized in Italy, calling it a “fabricated report” and claiming that
Italian authorities did not even comment on the reports.
According to the BBC, Italian authorities refuse to comment
publicly on who they believe is behind the production of the seized
drugs.
Reports of
Hezbollah’s involvement in the drugs seized in Italy appeared as early
as August, with The Washington Post reporting that intelligence
officials had found that the Captagon had originated in areas controlled
by the Assad regime in Syria and departed Syria through Latakia, a
known hub for smuggling operations by Hezbollah.
Although
the investigation is ongoing, investigators believed that the Captagon
seizure fit a pattern of drug cases in the Middle East and Europe that
were linked to Hezbollah, according to The Washington Post. Captagon has
been involved in a number of drug seizures linked to Hezbollah.
“They
have stepped up the whole business with Captagon. There is no doubt
about that,” said a Middle Eastern intelligence official to The
Washington Post in August.
The
European law enforcement agency Europol warned in June that Hezbollah
operatives were believed to be “trafficking diamonds and drugs” in
European countries.
A
source in the Guardia di Finanza, the Italian finance police, in
Salerno told Arab News that the Captagon seizure “could be linked to
Lebanese group Hezbollah, even though we are still investigating the
case.”
Used in the
1960s to treat depression and the sleep disorder narcolepsy, Captagon
is one of several brand names for fenethylline hydrochloride, a drug
compound belonging to a family of amphetamines that can inhibit fear and
ward off tiredness.
Captagon
is popular in the Middle East, and widespread in war-torn areas such as
Syria, where conflict has fueled demand and created opportunities for
producers.
It
said Captagon was known as the “drug of the jihad” after being found in
terrorist hideouts, including one used by the Islamists who killed 90
people at the Bataclan theater in Paris in 2015.
Reuters and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.
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