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Lebanon's notorious “Captagon King,” Hassan Daqqou, has walked free from a Beirut prison after serving a seven-year sentence. He is still under international sanctions and his ties to the Assad regime and Hezbollah have been documented.
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Mariam Shenawy
OCCRP
Hala Nasreddine
Daraj
June 12, 2026
A notorious Syrian-Lebanese trafficker widely known as the “Captagon King,” has been released from a Lebanese prison after completing a seven-year sentence for drug manufacturing and trafficking. Judicial sources confirmed the release of Hassan Daqqou to Daraj, OCCRP's Lebanese partner.
A video circulated online showing family and friends celebrating his return home.
Daqqou was arrested in Beirut in 2021 in connection with a massive shipment of nearly 94 million Captagon pills, which was intercepted in Malaysia while en route to Saudi Arabia. In August 2022, the Beirut Criminal Court sentenced him to seven years of hard labor, a sentence that had been reduced from life imprisonment due to his alleged cooperation with a security agency, to which he provided information regarding the shipment.
At the time of the investigation, Daqqou’s attorney said his client was a victim of a “fabricated media and political campaign” and said not a single Captagon pill was found on Daqqou or at any of his properties.
According to 651 pages of handwritten interrogation transcripts obtained by OCCRP, Daqqou rose from poverty, selling watches on the streets of Beirut, to become a central figure in Lebanon’s Captagon trade. The documents shed light on his personal trajectory and reveal his role in a complex regional drug network involving the Syrian regime, Hezbollah, and their allies.
In his own testimony, Daqqou described himself as having “four faces”: a businessman; an operative working with the Security Bureau of the Syrian Army’s 4th Division, led by Maher al-Assad, brother of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad; a collaborator with Hezbollah during the Syrian conflict; and a participant in anti-narcotics operations linked to Syria.
Daqqou has faced multiple international sanctions, having been blacklisted by the U.S., the U.K., and the EU since 2023. Despite his incarceration, the kingpin allegedly continued to run his illicit trade from behind bars, with reports indicating that political pressure from Hezbollah allowed Daqqou to stay in a “comfortable” prison cell equipped with internet access throughout his sentence.
June 12, 2026
June 12, 2026
Read the full article at OCCRP →📄Source document: Judicial sources→2 reports
OCCRPIndependentCenter9 days agoHassan Daqqou, a prominent Syrian-Lebanese drug trafficker known as the 'Captagon King,' was released from a Lebanese prison after serving a seven-year sentence for drug manufacturing and trafficking. He was arrested in 2021 in connection with a large shipment of nearly 94 million Captagon pills intercepted in Malaysia. His original life sentence was reduced to seven years following his alleged cooperation with a security agency. Daqqou's lawyer claimed he was a victim of a fabricated media and political campaign, stating no Captagon pills were found on him or his properties. OCCRP obtained 65
Bias read (Center): The article presents factual details about the arrest, trial, and release of Hassan Daqqou without overtly favoring any political or ideological perspective. It includes quotes from both the defendant's attorney and judicial sources, providing a balanced account of the situation.
Official sources cited
- government Judicial sources
- organisation Daraj
The Washington TimesIndependentCenter10 days agoSaudi Arabia has lifted a five-year ban on Lebanese imports, signaling an improvement in relations between Lebanon and Gulf states. The ban, initially imposed in 2021 due to concerns about smuggling drugs like Captagon through Lebanese agricultural products, was expanded to all Lebanese goods following criticism from Lebanon's former information minister toward Saudi Arabia's actions in Yemen. The decision to lift the ban comes amid efforts by the Lebanese government to disarm non-state groups, including Hezbollah.
Bias read (Center): The article presents factual developments without overtly favoring any political side. It provides background on the reasons behind the import ban and the subsequent lifting of it, citing both Saudi Arabian and Lebanese perspectives without editorializing or using biased language.
Official sources cited
- government Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry Statement
United States