The Captagon Bust: How India Became a Node in the Global Captagon Network

What has happened?

On May 11, India witnessed its first ever Captagon seizure in India wherein 227.7 kg worth 182 crore rupees was discovered as part of its Operation Ragepill, planned by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), wherein they seized shipments of Captagon bound for West Asia. A Syrian national, Alabras Ahmad, has been arrested in connection with the case. The contraband itself was found in the man’s Delhi hideout, within a commercial chapati-cutting machine.

What is Captagon?

Captagon is the brand name for fenethylline which is a psychoactive and highly additive synthetic drug. It was first developed in 1961 in Germany by a company called Degussa Pharma Gruppe. It was synthesized as part of a program where it was tested to see whether it could be a safer substitute for amphetamines, which are used for things like ADHD and fatigue. It was sold over the counter initially, then became prescription only. The first seizure of illicitly trafficked captagon occurred in Germany in 1984 and was eventually banned globally because of its high abuse potential. The International Narcotics Control Board, in 2011, stated that no country had produced the drug since 2009. However, in 2011, when Syria was inflicted by a civil war, the economy was plunging fast, and it is said that al-Assad and his allies undertook the production and smuggling of the drug to finance their government. 

As of now, 80% of its supply comes from Syria and is smuggled across the Middle East and Europe. The substance has become a leverage point for Syria, due to the significant increase in the illicit drug trade. After the collapse of the Assad government, stockpiles were found in military bases. 

The Narco Geography Around India

India is already caught between the Golden Crescent to the west (which consists of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan) and the Golden Triangle to the east (Myanmar, Laos and Thailand). The Mundra Port in Gujarat has repeatedly been featured in high-profile drug seizures, with the Gujarat coastline, and its extensive and difficult-to-monitor shoreline, long been exploited by trafficking networks operating through the Arabian Sea. Punjab's border with Pakistan remains a persistent pressure point, where heroin from the Golden Crescent enters through drones, human carriers, and border crossings. These routes are shaped by India’s proximity to these regions. 

But the Captagon adds another geographical dimension to India’s narcotic concerns. The drug neither has a road or shoreline that it needs to cross in order to enter the country. The drug found in the Operation Ragepill bust reached India through legitimate commercial shipping. It was processed through Mundra port, coordinated by a Syrian national operating on an expired tourist visa in Delhi, destined for Jeddah. This is because of the highly mobile nature of this drug. It is not operating out of pure economic interests but is intertwined with an armed network, and poses as organized crime deeply embedded within the global trade infrastructure. This is a much more complex threat to India’s counter-narcotics framework. 

India as a transit corridor is structurally important to these narcotics networks. India processes a huge number of shipping containers daily, with major ports collectively handling 915.17 million tonnes of cargo in FY 2025-26. This volume can be easy ground for sophisticated trafficking networks to breed in. This vulnerability is further compounded by the geography India finds itself in, situated between two of the world’s most active narcotic networks (Golden Crescent and Golden Triangle). This makes India a natural route for the Captagon to be moved through, if say, a consignment was moved from Syria to the Gulf.

The Geopolitical Implications

Unlike other drug substances, the Captagon comes enmeshed with war, fall of a regime and militia financing. The end of the Assad regime has only further decentralized the production and the network is only more diluted, operating through new routes, intermediaries and transit points. India happens to be one of these transit points. 

The Captagon network is also alarmingly close with extremist groups and has been linked to ISIS, which often uses it in warfare and where the term “jihadi drug” comes from. They use the drug to increase aggression among fighters and suppress fatigue. This is similar to how European athletes used to consume the drug to enhance their physical endurance before the drug got banned. Therefore, the Captagon holds the potential to directly impact India’s terrorism problem. 

This means that ensuring India does not become a regularised transit point in this network becomes an issue of utmost importance. If India matures as a node, its implications will extend beyond narcotics enforcement and mould into a threat to our national security.

What Must India Do?

Operation Ragepill demonstrates that India's enforcement agencies are capable of sophisticated, intelligence-led responses. The operation involved human intelligence, electronic surveillance, port monitoring, and international coordination. But at the same time the structural vulnerabilities that allowed a Syrian national to coordinate a transnational drug network from a rented residence in Delhi for over a year, on an expired visa, must be addressed.

India needs dedicated maritime narcotics intelligence, precursor chemical monitoring at ports of entry, real-time coordination with Gulf enforcement agencies, and deeper engagement with Syrian successor authorities to curb the threat of Captagon before it opens a Pandora’s box that the country will find it hard to close.