(JNi.media) The Assassins (from Arabic: Ḥashshāshīn) were an Islamic sect of medieval warriors from Persia and Syria, established in the 11th century, who posed a military threat to the Muslim powers that be, capturing and inhabiting several mountain fortresses under the leadership of their founder Hassan-i Sabbah. They carried out espionage and assassinations missions, and in the course of 300 years killed two caliphs, and many viziers, sultans and Crusader chieftains. The name “Assassin” is traced to the Arabic word for “users of hashish,” as legend has it that they steeled themselves for their violent tasks with a toke or two of weed. In similar fashion, medical and political experts are becoming convinced that the brushfire-like expansion of ISIS through Iraq and Syria is being aided by hefty doses of Captagon, a synthetic amphetamine-based pill considered the drug of choice for Islamic State fighters.
It is dubbed the “jihadist’s drug,” because of its ability to mask pain, fear and hunger, and for keeping users awake, calm and alert for long stretches. Captagon is one of several brand names for the drug compound fenethylline hydrochloride. According to the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Encyclopedia, it was created in 1961, when it was manufactured by Chemiewerk Homburg, a subsidiary of German chemical giant Degussa—whose other subsidiary Degesch, a pest control maker, was the main manufacturer and distributor of the chemical Zyklon B.
Survivors of the November 13 Paris attacks described the gunmen as looking “zombie-like” and serene, while spraying innocent civilians with bullets. French media are reporting evidence that the attackers were high Captagon, which is increasingly in use by Islamic State fighters.
Captagon is a controlled substance, which in the 1980s was determined to have addictive properties that outweighed its clinical benefits. It has been banned in most countries. Long-term users can suffer extreme depression, sleep deprivation, heart and blood vessel toxicity, and malnutrition, according to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service.
Lebanese psychiatrist Ramzi Haddad told Reuters that making Captagon requires “only basic knowledge of chemistry.” According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the three countries where the largest amounts of Captagon are manufactured are Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria.
Syria became a major center for manufacturing Captagon because of its vast pharmaceutical industry. With dozens of factories, Syria used to be the second-largest supplier of pharmaceuticals in the Middle East. It is safe to suspect that once ISIS forces overtake such a facility, they start churning out the “courage drug.”
Two weeks before the Paris attacks, Saudi Prince Abdul Mohsen Bin Alwaleed Bin Abdulaziz, 29, arrived in Rafik Hariri airport in Beirut to take his private plane back home to Saudi Arabia. But a security check of the 40 cases the Prince attempted to load on his plane, all of them marked with the official stamp of Saudi Arabia, the palm tree and two crossed swords, seized millions of Captagon pills, weighing more than 2 tons and valued at $250 million.
It was the largest drug smuggling operation ever foiled at the Lebanese airport, carried out by a prince of the Kingdom which last May declared a national emergency following the drug epidemic that has spread there. Every year Saudi Arabia seizes more than 50 million Captagon pills, which are estimated to make up only 10% of the amount smuggled in regularly. According to official Saudi data, about 40% of the population ages 12 to 22 use drugs, mainly Captagon. It is clear why young Saudis prefer Captagon over alcohol: the latter would get you a jail sentence combined with public lashes.
Back in November, when French police raided a hotel room at Alfortville, south-east of Paris, where one of the attackers, Salah Abdeslam, had rented two rooms for the final planning stage of the attack, they found a stash of syringes, needles and plastic tubing.
“I saw a man shoot,” a witness told French television station M6. “I saw a man who was peaceful, composed, with a face that was almost serene, contemplative, advance towards the bar. He sprayed the terrace [with bullets] as anyone else would spray their lawn with a garden hose.”