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ROME: A source from the Guardia di Finanza, the Italian financial police, in Salerno told Arab News that 15 tons of Captagon amphetamine seized in July in Naples “came from Syria and could be linked to the Lebanese group Hezbollah, although we are still investigating the case “.
On July 1, the Guardia di Finanza claimed the largest amphetamine seizure in the world, as it intercepted more than 84 million Captagon tablets, which weigh 14 tons and are worth more than one billion euros (1.2 billion euros). dollars), which are headed from Syria to Europe. markets, where synthetic drug production may have taken an unexpected hit from the COVID-19 shutdown.
Captagon is known to some as the “ISIS drug” after investigations revealed that Daesh fighters used amphetamines to keep them on their feet during battles.
The brand name for the synthetic stimulant phenetylline, Captagon, was first produced in the 1960s to treat hyperactivity, narcolepsy, and depression, but was banned in most countries in the 1980s as being considered too addictive. It is still very popular in the Middle East.
The drug is cheap and simple to produce, using ingredients that are easy and often legal to obtain. It sells for approximately € 15 per tablet.
When seized in Italy, the tablets were hidden in large paper and steel cylinders and transported to the port of Salerno in southern Italy.
The Guardia di Finanza had told the Italian press that the amphetamine pills seized in Salerno bore a symbol: two crescent moons, the same symbols found in Captagon seized in Daesh hideouts in the Middle East.
The symbol was also found on tablets that terrorists consumed prior to the Bataclan attack in Paris in 2015.
This led Italian police to believe that the drugs seized in Salerno may have been produced by men linked to Daesh to finance their terrorist efforts.
However, in recent weeks, investigators have been following a new lead that may lead them to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“There could be a link, but we are still investigating the case and await further developments,” a source from the Guardia di Finanza told Arab News.
Investigators have no doubt that Salerno’s shipment was to be received by the Neapolitan mafia, known as the Camorra.
“The mafia must be behind drug trafficking of such proportions. A billion euro drug cargo cannot reach a port without the knowledge of the mafia, “Franco Roberti, the former Italian national anti-mafia chief prosecutor, told Arab News.
Captagon pills seized in Salerno were burned by police last week at a special waste management facility in Ravenna, northern Italy. The 16 tons of drugs were transported in a convoy escorted by armored vehicles and helicopters.
The incineration process took a full day under strict security measures with more than 100 police officers guarding the site.
