British sanctions target Syrian drug traders

The group were involved in helping to produce the pills or smuggle them across the Middle East and onto Europe and Asia, Britain said. "The Assad regime is using the profits from the Captagon trade to continue their campaign of terror on the Syrian people," said Britain's Minister of State for the Middle East Tariq Ahmad.

Britain and the United States imposed sanctions on eleven individuals it said were linked to a Syrian illegal drugs trade which helps generate profits for the Syrian government.

Britain said trading Captagon, an addictive amphetamine, was worth up to $57 billion to Syrian President Bashar al Assad's government and that the eleven individuals sanctioned were business men, militia leaders or relatives of the president. The group were involved in helping to produce the pills or smuggle them across the Middle East and onto Europe and Asia, Britain said.

"The Assad regime is using the profits from the Captagon trade to continue their campaign of terror on the Syrian people," said Britain's Minister of State for the Middle East Tariq Ahmad. "The UK and US will continue to hold the regime to account for brutally repressing the Syrian people and fuelling instability across the Middle East."