Major drug haul: Italy catches ecstasy chemical precursor from China worth $678mn
Major drug haul: Italy catches ecstasy chemical precursor from China worth $678mn
Six tonnes of precursor chemicals from China were seized by Italian authorities, who found that it was meant for making the party drug ecstasy.
The drugs captured in powder form from Milan airport are worth $678 million or 630 million euros, Italian customs said on Monday (July 1).
Two Chinese nationals were arrested in the Netherlands, while a Milan-based businessman is being investigated. A joint probe was carried out by the European judicial agency Eurojust and Italian customs.
According to the customs agency, the chemicals seized could be used to make over 63 million MDMA pills, also known as ecstasy.
Lab tests showed that the powder, which was being carried as a polyester coating chemical, was in fact PMK, which is used for making ecstasy.
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The haul happened after Italian authorities contacted Dutch police.
The seized goods included dozens of kilogrammes of PMK, ketamine and hashish, news agency AFP reported.
China and the drug trade
China's involvement in the global drug trade is well-known, mainly as a source of precursor material and as part of money laundering operations.
Amid its opioid crisis, the US had blamed China for the trafficking of fentanyl.
The US Drugs Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 2020 said in a report that fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances were trafficked from China through both regular post and commercial courier services.
In June this year, US prosecutors charged 24 people for a money laundering scheme involving Chinese shadow bankers and Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel.
The Chinese underground money exchangers helped the Mexican drug lords launder money from trafficking worth $50 million in the 2019-2023 period, according to the prosecutors.
The revenues were from the trade of fentanyl, cocaine and meth, the US justice department said.
(With inputs from agencies)
