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Assad regime implicated in massive captagon bust

By Will Neal, OCCRP, 13 July 2020 OCCRP – The recent record-breaking shipment of amphetamines seized by Italian authorities may not have been manufactured by terrorist group ISIS, as was first believed, but by the Syrian regime itself. On July 1, OCCRP reported that police in the Italian… Read More

Moscow front companies, tax havens tied to Assad’s ‘chemical arsenal’

A Russian-Syrian business network has been accused of using Moscow front companies, tax havens in British overseas territories and European countries to transfer millions of dollars around the world for the Assad regime. The network, run by a Russian-Syrian businessman called Mudalal Khouri and his brothers, is said to have… Read More

Amazon settles allegations of U.S. sanctions violations

Amazon.com Inc. agreed to settle allegations that it violated multiple U.S. sanctions regulations, the U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant allegedly provided goods and services to individuals or entities subject to U.S. sanctions, primarily due to deficiencies in the company’s automatic screening processes, according to… Read More

9th July 2020

Was Islamic State trying to sell €1 billion worth of drugs in Europe?

Last week Italian law enforcement agents carried out what they said was the world’s largest ever drugs bust of amphetamines. A video from the Guardia di Finanza, a financial crime and smuggling investigations unit attached to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, shows officers using circular saws to cut… Read More

6th July 2020

Report: More than 60 countries violated sanctions with North Korea last year

Sixty-two countries violated United Nations Security Council sanctions against North Korea over a one-year period, according to a report from a Washington, D.C.-based think tank The Institute for Science and International Security report, released Wednesday, cites over 250 alleged violations from February 2019 to February 2020 based on… Read More

25th June 2020

Paris art experts arrested over looted antiquities

Five eminent Parisian antiques specialists have been arrested on suspicion of selling looted Middle Eastern artefacts worth tens of millions of euros. The experts are suspected of masking the origin of the items before selling them to clients, including some of the world’s leading museums, such as the Louvre’s… Read More

19th June 2020

US imposes sanctions on Syrian president’s wife under Caesar Act

The Syrian first lady, Asma al-Assad, has been named in the first round of new US sanctions that are certain to intensify pressure on the embattled regime and its backers as the country’s crippled economy continues to wither. The law, known as the Caesar Act, came into effect on Wednesday,… Read More

17th June 2020

U.S. to impose sanctions aimed at blocking Syria military victory

The United States will impose sanctions on Wednesday aimed at cutting off revenue for Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s government in a bid to push it back into United Nations-led negotiations and broker an end to the country’s nearly decade-long war. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Kelly Craft told the… Read More

15th June 2020

US ‘Caesar Act’ sanctions could devastate Syria’s flatlining economy

Its currency has plunged by 70% since April, more than half its people face food scarcity, and hopes of rebuilding a country shattered by war continue to ebb. Syria seems barely able to absorb new shocks, but new US sanctions that take effect next week, could devastate what is left… Read More

11th June 2020

Steering clear of Iran petroleum sanctions

July 14, 2015 was a landmark date in the long-running feud between Europe, the US and Iran. Iranian officials agreed to terminate the country’s nuclear programme, and in exchange, would benefit from the removal of crippling sanctions – including on petroleum exports. Trade with the EU soared. Over the following… Read More

5th June 2020

Libyan Warlord’s Oil Foray Draws U.S., U.N. Scrutiny

The U.S. and other powers are investigating suspected efforts by Libyan militia leader Khalifa Haftar to raise funds through oil deals, including with Emirati brokers and Venezuela, according to U.S., European and Libyan officials. The United Nations and the official Libyan government are probing a Dubai-based ship charterer for possibly… Read More

28th May 2020

U.S. sanctions advisory raises hurdles for global maritime industry

Ship owners and insurers say it may be impossible for the maritime industry to fully comply with the Trump administration’s new guidelines on how to avoid sanctions penalties related to Iran, North Korea and Syria, raising the risk of disruptions in a sector already struggling with the fallout of the… Read More

27th May 2020

Syria’s Bitter Feud over Power, Drugs and Money

The hashish was packed in milk cartons, a total of four tons of the stuff, carefully packed in 19,000 individual Tetra Paks. Customs officials discovered the cargo in mid-April on a ship in the Egyptian port of Said. It had come from Syria, and it was presumably bound for Libya,… Read More

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