NEWS

Piraeus counterfeit Captagon amphetamine haul in the millions

Piraeus counterfeit Captagon amphetamine haul in the millions

Financial crimes investigators in the port city of Piraeus had almost completed the count of a haul of counterfeit drugs seized from a container terminal on Tuesday morning, saying it consists of an estimated 23 million pills of the drug fenetylline, stamped to look like the Captagon brand.

The drugs were discovered in three containers that had been shipped from Syria and were on their way to China, via Piraeus, during an operation by Greece's Financial Crimes Squad, in cooperation with the American Drug Enforcement Agency's branch in Athens.

The pills, which weigh more than 1.5 tons, were hidden inside hollows carved into planks of fiberboard, which is what the shipment claimed to contain.

Captagon is also known as the “jihadist's drug” because of its widespread use by ISIS fighters in Syria, where illegal laboratories are still thought to be producing the powerful amphetamine.

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