Greece seizes 'world's largest' haul of Captagon amphetamine shipped from Syria

Greek authorities have seized what they described as the world's largest single haul of super-charged amphetamine Captagon pills from Syria worth more than half a billion euros.

MENA

1 min read

The New Arab

06 July, 2019

The drug is popular in the Arab world [AFP]

Greek authorities have seized more than five tons of the synthetic drug known as Captagon, the country's financial crimes squad said on Friday, adding that it was the largest amount of the drug ever seized globally.

The drug, which is popular in the Arab world and known to be used by some jihadists before carrying out attacks, was found in three containers originating in Syria.

The drugs, consisting of more than 33 million pills, the financial crimes squad said in a statement.

"It is the largest quantity that has ever been seized globally, depriving organized crime of proceeds that would have exceeded $660 million (587.45 million euros)," the statement said.

It said investigations were ongoing to find those involved in the smuggling as well as whether the shipment was heading to China.

Authorities said it took 20 employees a week to complete the search of the containers.

Captagon is one of several brand names for fenethylline hydrochloride, a drug compound belonging to the family of amphetamines, stimulants of the central nervous system.