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Italian police seize over $1 billion of 'ISIS-made' Captagon amphetamines

By Jack Guy, Stephanie Halasz and Valentina DiDonato, CNN

Updated 6:33 AM EDT, Wed July 01, 2020

(CNN)Police in Italy have confiscated a huge shipment of 14 metric tonnes (15.4 US tons) of amphetamines which they say was produced by ISIS in Syria.

Officers tracked three suspect containers to the port of Salerno in southwest Italy and found 84 million pills with a market value of €1 billion ($1.12 billion) inside paper cylinders for industrial use, the Guardia di Finanza financial police said in a statement Wednesday.

Investigators said the bust is the largest drug haul in the world. The pills carried the "Captagon" logo, which "distinguishes the 'drug of Jihad,'" according to the statement.

"It is known that ISIS/Daesh finances its terrorist activities in large part with the trafficking of synthetic drugs produced largely in Syria, which has become the leading world producer of amphetamines in recent years," police said.

"According to the DEA (US Drug Enforcement Administration), ISIS makes wide use of these drugs in all the territories over which it exerts influence and controls its sale."

The group is also able to easily produce large quantities of synthetic drugs to sell on global markets, raising huge amounts of money, added police.

The investigation and bust were carried out on a decree from the Naples public prosecutor, the statement added. Police believe the drugs were intended for distribution in Europe by various organized crime groups.

I highly doubt it was really ISIS who produced the drugs. I've actually done a lot of research on the captagon trafic and while it is true that, at some point, ISIS members were involved in it, most of the captagon in the Middle east is produced by Hezbollah in the syrian-lebanese border. Most of the pills are then sent to Saudi Arabia where Captagon is a popular drug.

In order to send it to Saudi Arabia, Hezbollah have to use tribal smugglers in Syria and Iraq or go through a turkish port but either way they have to use syrian smugglers and that's where ISIS appear. So there's a kind of unholy alliance between two enemies (ISIS being a sunni radical group and Hezbollah are a shia radical group).

I've read the article in La Reppublica this morning and i think the Italian police said it's ISIS because it is well documented that Captagon is associated with ISIS and it's a good publicity stunt. They went as far as saying that the pills have two semi circles on them which is the "brand" used by ISIS. That's far fetched.

I think it's more like amphetamine not meth. It's a party drug.

Captagon. In Europe, hardly anyone knows it, in the Middle East the use is widespread. "You forget everyone around you, you hallucinate and everything is better. You have so many ideas, ”says Khaled, 19, a Lebanese drug addict. He is thin and wears a black hoodie. His pupils are gigantic.

In the 70's 80's Captagon was a famous party drug in European too.

I heard Bulgarian OC was at the beginning highly involved in captagon markets. Now they change the direction. Guys in syria are now produce this pills.

Another Bust in greece

In Syria various groups are involved. It exist manufacturers in area controlled by Turkish backed militias. In other area's syria Regime guys are involved.
I have some doubts that Hisbullah are directly involved. But i'm sute they collect some "taxes".

I think that the ndrangheta asked the camorra to use the Salerno port for the cargo because for sure the ndrangheta have a more extended distribution line and more money respect the little camorra clan and to sell 84 milion of pills you must have a global distribution routes.

Yeah Bulgarians used to traffic captagon in the 90s, but the drug didn't get a foothold at that moment in time. They preferred the Brabant-produced stuff over here

Articel about Turkey anticorruption and cap..

From 2017 a report about lebanon
report

I bet in one or two years we will see in libya the same situation.

the largest camorra clans as polverino, contini, di lauro and others are also able to move big quantities and have men all across eu countries, south america, dubai etc.

It is likely that a "consortium" of criminal groups is involved, the Tyrrhenian regional seaports of Naples and Salerno and the interports of Nola and Marcianise are big transshipment hubs for container shipping.

So is this stuff like a hard core version of pep pills from the 50's-60's in the US?

But not quite as hard as actual meth?