Italy Seizes ISIS Drugs in World-Record Bust, 14 tons of methamphetamine, estimated street value of one billion euros

Authorities in Italy have seized the largest-ever shipment of amphetamines on record, believed to have been manufactured by one of the world’s most feared international terrorist groups, the Islamic State.

The Guardia di Finanza announced on Wednesday that police in the port of Salerno, outside of Naples, had discovered more than 84 million tablets of the drug captagon hidden within paper cylinders that were being transported in a shipping container.

Weighing in at around 14 tonnes and with an estimated street value of one billion euros, the “extraordinary” seizure is the largest of its kind on record, according to the agency’s statement.

Italian authorities believe the captagon had been manufactured by the Islamic State and that the amount would likely be sufficient to satisfy the entirety of the European market for the drug.

Otherwise known as fenethylline, captagon is a psychostimulant that creates feelings of euphoria, well-being and aggression. Its widespread abuse has been documented throughout the Arabic-speaking world.

ISIS has a record of producing the drug to fund its operations, as well as administering it among its fighters to inhibit pain and fear during combat. Several of the terrorists who committed the 2015 attack on the Bataclan concert venue in Paris were later discovered to have ingested captagon.

The seizure follows after a similar shipment was intercepted two weeks ago, again at the port of Salerno. Napolese police discovered another container in which traffickers had hidden almost 3,000 kg of hash and a further 190kg of amphetamines underneath items of counterfeit clothing.