Army checkpoints short way to make a fortune

 (Translation by Yusra Ahmed)

Barriers, shields and checkpoints have become a familiar scene to Syrians since Assad's family, father and son, have captured the power in Syria since early sixties last century, and even before the uprising flareup in March 2011.

The checkpoints gain bad reputation since it were a leading example for humiliation and blackmailing people. the ultimate power of soldiers or intelligence members with their mobile barriers pushed people to pay whatever to save their heads from arbitrary detention.

After the revolution, the brutality and greediness of barriers members have increased, besides the variety of their backgrounds, some of them were for the intelligence, others for the army, while many for the National Defense Forces NDF and not surprisingly to see barriers of groups from outside Syria like barriers for Hezbollah's militias.

In Damascus, the trade is still active compared o other cities, watching a barrier for a short period of time, can give an anticipation to the income of the barrier’s manager and members, which can be more profitable than a company with many millions budget, especially if the barrier was in an area of active movement like the industrial area in Damascus.

In the industrial area in Damascus, especially at al-Mustafa Mosque, there is a barrier for Palestine branch of the Syrian intelligence, where the manager of the barrier “Abo Zein” and his deputy “Abo Yusuf” share the income of the barrier which could exceed a million Syrian pounds, which it generated from the fares they enforce on each car or a van enter to the shops and workshops. 

The blackmail of those two barrier’s members is not restricted to wealthy people of shops owners, they force fare on poor people who live in the area and around like Bostan Addor and Hajibiyeh.

It now has become familiar to see some people have suddenly become rich and wealthy, and the first thing to think of are the barriers and their work on them.