Evidence shows members of the president's family and armed forces are involved in the Captagon trade.
BBC News Arabic Investigations
Gaining exclusive access to the phone, the BBC found a series of messages between Mr Falhout and a Lebanese contact he called "Abu Hamza", in which they discussed the purchase of the pill-pressing machine. There is a chat on the mobile from August 2021, in which Mr Falhout and Abu Hamza talked about moving the machinery from Lebanon to Syria.
Hezbollah did not respond to the BBC's request for comment about Mr Faytrouni. They have previously denied any role in the production and smuggling of Captagon. We were unable to reach Mr Falhout or Mr Faytrouni for comment.After months of security preparation the BBC was able to get rare access to the Syrian Armed Forces in government-controlled Aleppo.One soldier, who spoke to us on condition of anonymity, told us his fellow soldiers' monthly pay was less than 150,000 Syrian pounds .
We spoke to a former officer who had defected from the Syrian army. He told us: "Because of the tough financial conditions which the officers and ranks are going through during the Syrian war, many members of the Fourth Division have resorted to smuggling. The haul, containing nearly 100m pills, was destined for Saudi Arabia where its street value was estimated at between $1bn-$2bn , making it one of the biggest drug busts in history.The case was heard behind closed doors, but our team met with the judge who told us that most of the evidence came from the surveillance of phone communications between Daqqou and a number of drug smugglers.
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