WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th November, 2019) The US-backed Syrian rebel group Maghaweir al-Thowra (MaT) seized $3.5 million worth of illegal amphetamines in a truck transiting a deconfliction zone in southern Syria, the Pentagon announced in a press release on Thursday.
"The Maghaweir al-Thowra (MaT), a Coalition Aligned Security Force within the 55 km Deconfliction Zone (DCZ), seized illicit drugs worth an estimated $3.5 million in southern Syria Oct. 23, 2019," the release said.
The release noted that smugglers of weapons and drugs in the southern deconfliction zone have historically been linked to the Islamic State (banned in Russia) terrorist group.
The smuggler transporting the drugs was hiding them under the normal guise of supplies being transported to the Rukban refugee camp in southern Syria, near the Jordanian border, the release said.
The MaT seizure consisted of early 850,000 Captagon pills, an amphetamine narcotic, the release said.
US forces still occupy a 34-mile "deconfliction" zone around their unauthorized military base near At Tanf.
The Rukban camp, which houses thousands of refugees, lies within the US-controlled zone and the American military presence has made it hard for humanitarian workers to access the facility.�
