"The Captagon factory? Straight ahead." On the outskirts of Damascus, just a 20-minute drive from the centre of the Syrian capital, lay a sprawling industrial complex.
Professed to be a soap factory, its products were anything but clean.
Rebels had broken into the complex as they pushed towards the capital city and found millions of Captagon pills and industrial quantities of precursor chemicals.
They had found plastic fruits that, when broken open, would reveal hundreds of tiny pills, along with fake copper coils stuffed with the narcotic and plasterboard with sheets of Captagon stashed inside.
For years, neighbouring states accused Bashar al-Assad's regime of being behind the world's largest Captagon production and export operation a claim it denied.
Jordan and the Gulf states begged the Assad regime to stop sending the drug over its borders, but the flow continued unhindered.
Esta historia es de la edición December 17, 2024 de The Guardian.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición December 17, 2024 de The Guardian.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Real Madrid take aim at Uefa in bid to revive Super League
Real Madrid have spelled out their commitment to a restructuring of the Champions League in which the clubs not Uefa are in control - essentially a European Super League 2.0.
United's big reset
Rashford faces cut-price exit as part of club's cultural reboot
England get horror draw with France, Netherlands and Wales
England, the holders, have been drawn in a group with France, the Netherlands and their neighbours Wales for the 2025 Women's European Championship in Switzerland.
Maguire in 'really positive' contract talks with United
Harry Maguire is discussing a new contract with Manchester United that would commit him to at least a seventh and eighth season at the club.
Unal's fabulous free-kick earns Bournemouth a point
Bournemouth simply do not know when they are beaten. The substitute Enes Unal powered an unstoppable free-kick into the top corner, seconds after West Ham snatched an unlikely lead courtesy of a contentious penalty.
'I'm at a turning point - now it's about me playing to see how far I can go'
Emma Raducanu was hit by injuries but now feels she has the setup to be able to enjoy life both on and off the court
Filer brings the thunder after lightning halts Proteas
England will go into day three of the Bloemfontein Test in a commanding position, after bowling South Africa out for 281 and increasing their lead to 145 by stumps.
Stokes' latest injury scare adds to England's bad day
On a day in Hamilton that was already foreboding by way of leaden skies, England's troubles deepened well beyond their bleak position at stumps.
Fury vows to focus on Usyk and cut back showboating
When I look in the mirror I don't see a quitter,\" Tyson Fury says as, having suffered the first defeat of his professional career in a dramatic world heavyweight title fight against Oleksandr Usyk in May, he is about to step back into the fire of their rematch this Saturday night in Riyadh. \"I see a man who would do anything to keep going. If I get knocked down nine times, I'll get up 10. If I didn't want to do that, I wouldn't be a boxer, I'd be doing something else, like playing darts. But this is my job.\"
Athletics has funding cut by £1.75m for LA Games buildup
UK Sport has denied putting UK Athletics on the \"naughty step\" after slashing its funding for the Los Angeles Olympic cycle by nearly £1.75m.
