By Faisal Abu Bakr | 2025-09-05

ADEN -- Yemeni and international security forces have seized an estimated $153 million in narcotics since 2018, exposing a Houthi trafficking network that funds terrorism and destabilizes the region.

The seizures include 1,299 kilograms of cocaine ($58.5 million); 681 kilograms of heroin ($18 million); 1,019,050 Captagon pills ($27.37 million); 12,654 kilograms of hashish ($42.2 million); and 217 kilograms of methamphetamine ($7 million).

Drug trafficking serves as a multi-pronged strategy for the Houthis, Yemeni officials told Al-Fassel.

The profits fund weapons purchases and military operations, while the narcotics flood vulnerable communities, helping to crush social resistance.

This trafficking network further destabilizes regional security by linking international crime syndicates with terrorist operations.

"The massive seizures in recent years have degraded the Houthis' financial capabilities and caused them heavy losses," said Yemen's Deputy Justice Minister Faisal al-Majeedi.

"Every interdiction directly reduces their ability to purchase weapons and finance their war effort."

Social control through drugs

The Houthis deliberately target young Yemenis with narcotics in a calculated campaign to weaken society and eliminate popular resistance against their rule, the officials said.

"They aren't content with killing Yemenis with weapons alone," al-Majeedi said. They also destroy Yemen's future by drowning its youth in drugs.

"This represents a systematic policy aimed at striking society from within," he added.

Each successful interdiction disrupts the Houthis' social control strategy, said Fahmi al-Zubairi, director general of the Sanaa human rights office.

Persistent trafficking

The network shows no signs of declining.

From cocaine shipments originating in Brazil to Captagon pills crossing land borders, security forces continue dismantling operations that threaten Yemen's survival while funding the region's most destabilizing conflict.

Three major seizures at Aden Port have recently originated from Brazil.

The latest strike occurred on August 23, when counterterrorism units intercepted 599 kilograms of cocaine valued at $27 million.

Previous Brazilian shipments in December 2021 and October 2020 contained 200 and 500 kilograms of cocaine plus heroin, respectively.

Other major interdictions include:

August 2025: Marib security forces seized 70 kilograms of hashish.

June-July 2025: Forces at al-Wadiah border crossing in Hadramaut blocked more than one million Captagon pills.

On June 28, the Coast Guard intercepted 548 kilograms of hashish near Ras al-Ara in Lahj province. Five days later, Khokha coast guards seized 439 kilograms of mixed narcotics.

December 2024: The Yemeni Coast Guard intercepted 5,613 kilograms of hashish, 181 kilograms of heroin and one kilogram of methamphetamine in international waters.

January 2023: Hadramaut's Anti-Narcotics Agency seized 150 kilograms of hashish.

November 2020: Al-Mahrah coast guards seized 730 kilograms of hashish and 216 kilograms of methamphetamine.

December 2018: The US Navy seized 5.5 tons of hashish in Gulf of Aden waters.

July 2018: Marib forces blocked 44 kilograms of drugs at a checkpoint on the Marib-Sanaa road, demonstrating the network's Lebanese connections.