Italian police are claiming to have made the biggest amphetamines bust of all time after seizing 14 tonnes of drugs allegedly produced in Syria by the Islamic State (IS) group.
Key points:
- The pills were labelled “Captagon” which is a fenethylline-based drug
- Police say the Camorra crime groups may have been involved
- They say crime organisations may be turning to Syria for drugs after the pandemic hampered production in Europe
Investigators on Wednesday said they impounded three container ships that had docked in the southern Italian port of Salerno and found 84 million pills inside machinery and large paper cylinders.
Customs Police Colonel Domenico Napolitano called the discovery the biggest amphetamine seizure ever made.
Colonel Napolitano said on Italian state radio that investigators believed the drug’s production provided IS with vital revenue for its militant activities.
Investigators hypothesise that amphetamine production in Europe has be