Damascus — In a remote corner outside Damascus, a now abandoned potato chip factory has shone a light on one of the ousted Bashar al-Assad regime’s many dark, but open secrets.

A CBS News team gained access to the site, finding a storeroom lined with hydrochloric acid and acetic acid on an industrial scale, which are precursor chemicals needed to make Captagon, one of the most popular street drugs in the Middle East and beyond.

Ahmed Abu Yakin is with Syria’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, one of the main groups in charge of the country after Assad fled on Dec. 8. Yakin says this massive underground stash of Captagon was found just days after the rebel group’s takeover. The pills stuffed into large stacks of household volt regulator kits ready for shipment.

Often referred to as “poor man’s cocaine,” Captagon is a highly addictive amphetamine-type stimulant.

“We feel bad for the young people who were addicted to it,” Yakin said. “The Assad regime was destroying a generation and couldn’t care less. They only cared about making money.”

And that money is staggering. Analysts estimate the Assad regime raked in $5 billion per year from the trade, dwarfing Syria’s official budget and making it a vital lifeline for the bankrupted state. The drug costs just pennies to make but can sell for up to $20 for a single tablet. The haul seen at the abandoned factory is potentially worth tens of millions of dollars.

For years, neighboring countries accused Assad’s Syria of being the world’s main supplier of the illegal drug. In March 2023, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned several Syrians for their alleged involvement in the “dangerous amphetamine”, including two of Assad’s cousins.

“Syria has become a global leader in the production of the highly addictive Captagon, much of which is trafficked through Lebanon,” said Andrea Gacki at the time, who was then-director of the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. “With our allies, we will hold accountable those who support Bashar al-Assad’s regime with illicit drug revenue and other financial means that enable the regime’s continued repression of the Syrian people.”

Now, his wildly lucrative drug business appears to have been crushed, along with his brutal and corrupt regime. For Yakin, Captagon has no place in Syria’s future.

“We will destroy it all,” Yakin said. “We will eliminate anything that has to do with drugs, and anything that has to do with the criminal Assad regime.”

Imtiaz Tyab

Imtiaz Tyab is a CBS News correspondent based in London and reports for all platforms, including the “CBS Evening News,” “CBS Mornings,” “CBS Sunday Morning” and CBS News 24/7. He has extensive experience reporting from major global flashpoints, including the Middle East and the war on terror.