The pro-regime SyriaSteps website confirmed the news of the arrest of one of the most prominent merchants in the Syrian war, Khader Ali Taher, known as Abu Ali Khader, on charges related to smartphone trading.
The website, which is close to the regime's intelligence services, reported that information indicates that a group of mobile phone store owners were harmed as a result of an illegal protection operation for goods whose trade is controlled by "Abu Ali Khader", who is close to the regime.
He stressed that the investigations are still ongoing, pointing out that they "remain within the framework of commercial violations related to an illegal monopoly in the mobile phone market."
As the conflict, now in its 13th year, reached a stalemate, the Syrian regime reclaimed large swathes of lost territory with the help of its key allies in Russia and Iran in recent years.
The U.N. estimates that some 300,000 civilians died during the first decade of the uprising, while half of the pre-war population of 23 million were displaced.
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