Asked by: Tom Randall (Conservative - Gedling)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of reports of increased attempts by Syrian and Iranian-linked groups to traffic Captagon into Europe.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The UK recognises that the production and smuggling of captagon is a lucrative trade, which provides illicit revenue streams to multiple actors, notably the malign Syrian Asad regime and its co-conspirators, principally Hezbollah and other Iranian militias.
The UK is stepping up its efforts to work with likeminded partners and regional states to combat this and is drawing international attention to the issue (for example in an intervention at the UN Security Council on 25 January) to ensure accountability.
HMG regularly assess the threat posed to the UK by the trafficking of illicit drugs, and currently assess that there is little/no direct UK facing threat. To date, no instances of Captagon being seized at a UK border have been recorded.
In December 2021, the Government launched its ten-year drugs plan to cut crime and save lives. As part of this, £300 million has been allocated to fund activity to break drug supply chains from end-to-end. This includes restricting upstream flow, securing the UK border, and ensuring we remain agile in the face of changing threats.