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DAMASCUS (Syria), April 25 (AP) — Syria on Tuesday condemned new European Union sanctions on the manufacture and trafficking of amphetamine in Damascus, saying the move was based on lies.
The Syrian foreign ministry statement came a day after the European Union imposed sanctions on several Syrians, including the family of President Bashar Assad, accusing them of producing and trafficking drugs, especially the amphetamine Captagon.
“The EU is repeating its lies,” the foreign ministry said, adding that such sanctions helped stop aid, medical equipment and food from flowing into Syria. It called the sanctions “unilateral and illegal”.
The EU asset freeze and travel ban were imposed on 25 people and eight “entities” – mostly companies – at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday.
Read also | Russo-Ukrainian war: EU countries seek to end impasse over Ukrainian farm imports.
Syria denies its allegations of producing and selling Captagon, but the ministry has provided no evidence to refute the EU’s allegations.
Experts say Captagon is mostly produced in Syria and neighboring Lebanon, where packages containing millions of pills are smuggled into Gulf states, Europe and elsewhere.
The trade is said to have close ties to Assad and his associates, as well as the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, which is a key ally. Assad’s opponents say his government has been using the drug business to fund its crackdown during Syria’s 12-year conflict that has killed half a million people.
The EU has also imposed sanctions on private security companies operating in Syria and their staff.
EU sanctions on Syria now cover 322 people and 81 entities. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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