US imposes new sanctions on Syria for illegal financial transactions and drug trafficking

The US Treasury has imposed new sanctions on eleven individuals and entities over illegal financial transfers to the Syrian regime and their role in drug trafficking to help it circumvent sanctions.

According to a Treasury statement, those involved include Syrian Taher Al-Kayali and his company Neptunus LLC, who reportedly bought cargo ships to smuggle captagon tablets to Europe.

Another individual blacklisted is Mahmoud Abulilah Al-Dj and his companies Al-Ta’ir and FreeBird Travel and Tourism. Having had a number of his drug shipments seized in Libya over the years, Al-Dj is also allegedly the “exclusive agent” of the sanctioned Syrian airline Cham Wings in the North African state.

The measures were also imposed on the Russian Financial Cooperation Bank and its vice president Aleksey Makarov, as well as the Syria-based Maya Exchange Company and Muhammad ’Ali Al-Minala from the Syrian central bank. The latter is reported to have used the exchange company to make payments to “a Jordanian beneficiary”.

READ: Europe is main transit route for Assad’s captagon trafficking to Middle East, report reveals

Sanctions also targeted the company STF Logistic for allegedly generating tens of millions of dollars in revenue for the Syrian regime. The company owns the right to almost three-quarters of the sales revenue from mines near the ruins of Palmyra in Syria through a 50-year contract with the regime. The US Treasury in turn sanctioned Grains Middle East Trading and its CEO Yafi David for acting as an intermediary for STF Logistic.

Over the past few years, the Middle East has seen a drastic increase in the trafficking of drugs orchestrated by the Assad regime and its affiliated figures and militias, with millions of pills being smuggled into Gulf states, North Africa and Europe on a regular basis. The illicit trade has provided a way for the Syrian authorities and others backed by Iran and Russia to earn lucrative profits amounting to billions of dollars in an effort to circumvent sanctions.

“The Assad regime continues to employ a variety of schemes to evade sanctions and sustain its longstanding campaign of repression against its own citizens, including trafficking in illegal drugs, exploiting currency exchanges, and leveraging seemingly legitimate businesses,” explained Brian E. Nelson, the Under Secretary of the US Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. “The United States remains committed to holding accountable those who seek to support this illicit financial activity at the expense of the Syrian people.”

READ: WHO staff member killed in Syria air strike