During the raid in a Paris suburb this week, French police said they found needles used by the attackers to inject themselves with Captagon, a highly addictive, illegal amphetamine. The drug may have helped them remain calm as they carried out their brutal attacks, police said.
Are militants using the drug trade to finance their attacks, and is ISIS using Captagon to boost the performance of its militants?
Here are five things to know about the drug:
1. Captagon makes fighters feel invincible, former militant says
Nov. 19, 2015: "Syria's Speed Freaks, jihad Junkies, and Captagon Cartels,"a report in Foreign Policy, says law enforcement agencies on all levels agree the catalyst to a spike in the illegal Captagon trade is boosted by the Syrian conflict. A former Free Syrian Army member told the publication he was given the drug on the battlefield. He said the effects made fighters feel invincible: "We felt physically fit, and felt like if there were ten people in front of you, you could catch them and kill them."
2. Captagon banned in 1980s for being too addictive
The drug started as a prescribed treatment for hyperactivity, narcolepsy and depression in the 1960s. "(It) was banned in most countries by the 1980s as too addictive. It remains hugely popular in the Middle East; Saudi Arabia alone seizes some 55m tablets a year, perhaps 10% of the total thought to be smuggled into the kingdom." (Source: The Guardian)
3. Reuters: Activist claims drug trade finances weaponry
Jan. 13, 2014: Reuters reported that wartime opened the door to major amphetamines production and usage in Syria.
"Consumption of Captagon outside the Middle East is negligible, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), but it is a significant drug in the Arab Gulf, and nascent markets were detected in North Africa last year." (Source: UK.reuters.com)
Khabib Ammar, a Damascus-based media activist, said Syrian fighters involved with the drug trade were buying weapons with the profits. Reuters said it could not verify claims that the profits were being used to fund fighting on either side.
4. Time: Pill that costs pennies to make retails for up to $20
Oct. 28, 2013: Time asks, "Is illegal drug Captagon funding Syria's brutal war?"
"In terms of pure profit, it's hard to beat amphetamines. Unlike cocaine and heroin, the base ingredients are easy, and even legal, to obtain. A pill that costs pennies to produce in Lebanon retails for up to $20 a pop in Saudi Arabia."
5. French publications call Captagon "the drug of the Jihadists"
Many French publications have called Captagon "la drogue des dihadistes" - the drug of the Jihadists - and insist there is a strong link between ISIS and the illegal drug trade. Various reports speculate that militants use the drug when carrying out their attacks.
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