In April 2021, customs officers in the Saudi city of Jeddah searched a shipment of Lebanese pomegranates.
Hidden inside the fruit were more than five million round, beige Captagon pills — illegal amphetamines.
It was the latest in a long line of interceptions in recent years in which law enforcement officers in the kingdom have stopped millions of pills and tonnes of drugs from being smuggled in.
But for Saudi Arabia, it was the final straw.
The kingdom announced a ban on imported fruits and vegetables from Lebanon, dealing a devastating blow to farmers already suffering due to the country’s economic collapse and sending a shock wave through the region.
Over the past decade, Captagon has spread across the Middle East and has become one of the most highly consumed narcotics.
It gained infamy and near-mythical status in the early years of the Syrian war as the drug of choice for militants belonging to groups such as ISIS.
Fighters popped the pills on the battlefield, with the drugs seemingly giving them superhuman strength as they fuelled them to fight for days without sleep or food. ISIS took over large areas of Syria and Iraq in 2013 and 2014 and ruled an area the size of the UK.
Far from the battlefields, Captagon also found favour.
Today, experts and officials say Captagon has become the most popular recreational drug in the Arabian peninsula.
In this week's Beyond the Headlines, we delve into a major investigation by The National into the Middle East’s Captagon crisis.
Our reporters in six countries spent months tracing the drug from Syrian producers to Lebanese smugglers to Saudi and UAE customs official, unravelling a game of cat and mouse that is harming thousands across the region as it enriches warlords and gunmen.
We unearthed some of the more creative ways traffickers smuggle drugs in the region, from hidden compartments to Bedouin herders, even as the Covid pandemic closed borders
We’ll go inside Saudi Arabia’s crackdown on Captagon smuggling and find out how customs officials in Dubai have been able to intercept drug shipments using state-of-the-art technology.
And we’ll speak to experts trying to make sense of the scale of the Captagon trade in the Middle East, where data is hard to come by and even talking about addiction is often taboo.
Hosted by James Haines-Young
Produced by Arthur Scott-Geddes, Arthur Eddyson and Ayesha Khan
The biog
Favourite hobby: I love to sing but I don’t get to sing as much nowadays sadly.
Favourite book: Anything by Sidney Sheldon.
Favourite movie: The Exorcist 2. It is a big thing in our family to sit around together and watch horror movies, I love watching them.
Favourite holiday destination: The favourite place I have been to is Florence, it is a beautiful city. My dream though has always been to visit Cyprus, I really want to go there.
How will Gen Alpha invest?
Mark Chahwan, co-founder and chief executive of robo-advisory firm Sarwa, forecasts that Generation Alpha (born between 2010 and 2024) will start investing in their teenage years and therefore benefit from compound interest.
“Technology and education should be the main drivers to make this happen, whether it’s investing in a few clicks or their schools/parents stepping up their personal finance education skills,” he adds.
Mr Chahwan says younger generations have a higher capacity to take on risk, but for some their appetite can be more cautious because they are investing for the first time. “Schools still do not teach personal finance and stock market investing, so a lot of the learning journey can feel daunting and intimidating,” he says.
He advises millennials to not always start with an aggressive portfolio even if they can afford to take risks. “We always advise to work your way up to your risk capacity, that way you experience volatility and get used to it. Given the higher risk capacity for the younger generations, stocks are a favourite,” says Mr Chahwan.
Highlighting the role technology has played in encouraging millennials and Gen Z to invest, he says: “They were often excluded, but with lower account minimums ... a customer with $1,000 [Dh3,672] in their account has their money working for them just as hard as the portfolio of a high get-worth individual.”
Spec%20sheet
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The Vile
Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah
Director: Majid Al Ansari
Rating: 4/5
Titan Sports Academy:
Programmes: Judo, wrestling, kick-boxing, muay thai, taekwondo and various summer camps
Location: Inside Abu Dhabi City Golf Club, Al Mushrif, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Telephone: 971 50 220 0326
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
MATCH INFO
Euro 2020 qualifier
Russia v Scotland, Thursday, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
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