Um ihre kleinen Pillen zu schmuggeln, ließen sich die Täter einiges einfallen: Sie versteckten sie in den Hohlräumen von Bremszylindern, zwischen Duftkerzen, in einem Pizzaofen, in einem Elektrokamin und in einem Raumluftfilter. Per Luftfracht sollten die Pakete dann von Deutschland aus nach Australien, Saudi-Arabien, Qatar oder Bahrein gehen. Doch der Zoll machte den Drogenhändlern einen Strich durch die Rechnung. Und vier Verdächtige müssen sich bald vor Gericht verantworten.
Die Staatsanwaltschaft Aachen hat sie angeklagt, mit mehr als 480 Kilogramm Captagon gehandelt zu haben, wie eine Sprecherin des Landgerichts Aachen auf Anfrage der F.A.Z., der Mediengruppe Bayern, BR, MDR, RBB und SWR bestätigte. In Ländern wie Saudi-Arabien, wo die amphetaminhaltige, aufputschende Droge vor allem genommen wird, hätte diese Menge einen Straßenverkaufswert von rund 60 Millionen Euro. Es ist der größte Captagon-Fall in Deutschland bislang. Die Hauptverhandlung gegen die vier Angeklagten, die zwischen 33 und 46 Jahre alt sind und ursprünglich alle aus Syrien stammen, wird laut Landgericht am 24. Juli beginnen.
Ursprünglich als Medikament entwickelt
In den Fokus der Ermittler waren die Männer Ende 2022 geraten, als Zöllner am Flughafen Köln/Bonn Bremszylinder auseinanderschraubten und darin zehn Kilogramm Captagon entdeckten. Es folgten weitere Funde, unter anderem am Flughafen Leipzig. Dem Zollfahndungsamt Essen gelang es, die mutmaßlichen Absender zu identifizieren und so die vier Verdächtigen ausfindig zu machen. Im Raum Aachen hatten diese mehrere Lagerräume angemietet. Die Ermittler brachten Überwachungskameras an. Und als sie die Lager im Herbst des vergangenen Jahres schließlich durchsuchten, fanden sie in einer Garage: palettenweise Sand. 16 Tonnen waren es insgesamt. Erst als sie die weißen Säcke aufschlitzten, kamen unter dem Sand weitere Säcke zum Vorschein und darin mehr als 300 Kilogramm der leicht beigefarbenen Pillen.
According to the district court, it is still unclear where the defendants got the drugs. Germany is usually just a stopover for Captagon. It is mainly produced in Syria and Lebanon. Both Hezbollah and the Assad clan are said to be deeply involved in smuggling. The most important market is Saudi Arabia, where consumers pay $20 to $30 for a pill that costs just a few cents to produce. Since the shortcut there has long been too conspicuous and risky, Captagon is often first taken out of the region, for example to Europe, hidden here in harmless cargo and shipped on.
Investigators suspect that Captagon is now also being produced in amphetamine labs in the Netherlands, in individual batches to order. Last year, the investigators of the Federal Criminal Police Office discovered for the first time in Germany a major production unit in a car repair shop in Regensburg. They arrested two Syrians who were working on a tablet there. They discovered 300 kilograms of pills and ingredients for another three tons. In total, German investigators seized about 800 kilograms of Captagon in 2023, a record amount.
Captagon was originally developed as a drug in Germany in the 1960s. The most important active ingredient was phentyline. However, due to its side effects such as addiction, hallucinations and anxiety, the United Nations listed it as a dangerous drug. Captagon is now produced only illegally, and instead of phenytoin, it almost always contains amphetamine, a drug that is also available in powder form in many European countries under names such as Speed and Pep. Caffeine is often added to Captagon tablets to increase the stimulating effect.
One defendant confessed
Captagon is often referred to as the “Jihad drug”. There were reports that the Islamic State used it to intoxicate its fighters, and terrorists such as the one in Paris in 2015 also ingested the pills before their atrocities. However, the European Drug Monitoring Center EMCDDA and the Federal Criminal Police Office concluded in a joint report that, at least for IS, there is no evidence to support the claim that Captagon is a “terror drug”. After October 7, Israeli army spokesmen said Captagon was found among the Hamas attackers. However, there is no indication or even evidence that the fighters systematically pumped themselves up with pills.
The Aachen public prosecutor's office has now charged four men who have been in custody since last fall with large amounts of drug trafficking. He accuses them of buying large quantities of Captagon on at least three occasions, which they received, among other things, hidden in a shipment of bulgur. They then allegedly airlifted smaller quantities from their warehouses: a good 33 kilograms in scented candles in two pallets, 17 kilograms in a pizza oven and an unknown number of pills in an electric fireplace. A large number of these shipments were intercepted by customs, but investigators were able to reconstruct others based on interviews and other findings. In addition, according to FAZ, Mediengruppe Bayern, BR, MDR, RBB and SWR, one of the defendants has now admitted his involvement and testified.
So far, it seems unclear whether the four defendants were acting on behalf of backers and whether they had links to other Captagon cases in Germany. The results of the investigation include numerous references to other suspects, such as in conversations that were evaluated, but it is not clear whether they could be identified. When asked, the Aachen prosecutor's office only replied that the investigation continues in the background. Björn Hühne, a criminal defense attorney representing one of the defendants, emphasizes that the extent of human trafficking was revealed only during the investigation and surprised even his client. “The main audition has to show the rest,” he says. The defense attorneys of the other defendants initially did not want to comment when asked. Trial periods are scheduled for late July through November.