IS 'fighter drug' worth 拢44m seized by police in Italy
Italian authorities have seized 24 million tramadol tablets, a drug sold by Islamic State to finance its terror activities.
Friday 3 November 2017 21:10, UK
Italian police have seized 鈧�50m (拢44m) worth of an opioid painkiller sold by Islamic State to finance attacks.
International narcotic experts think IS has been giving tramadol to fighters as well as selling the drug to raise money for terror attacks.
Officers seized 24 million tablets in the port of Gioia Tauro in southern Italy.
The shipment was on its way to Libya from India when it was intercepted by authorities.
The tablets contained the drug tramadol, a strong painkiller used by doctors to treat moderate to severe pain.
It has been nicknamed "the drug of fighters" because of its use by jihadist fighters in the Middle East.
Militants are thought to use the painkiller to dull pain and suppress fatigue.
Italian investigators said the group would sell the drug to soldiers for a price of around two euros a tablet.
"The traffic of tramadol is directly handled by IS to finance terrorist activities planned and carried out across the world," said an Italian court in the city of Reggio Calabria.
Some of the money raised from the sales would also go "to subsidise terrorist groups and extremists operating in Libya, Syria and Iraq," it said in a statement.
The interception came six months after a similar shipment of 37 million tablets was seized by authorities in Genoa in May.
The court said the operation was possible thanks in part to input from the US Drug Enforcement Administration.