This archive report was first published on 1 July 2020.
On July 1, 2020, Italian police made a significant breakthrough in their fight against terrorism, seizing a massive 14-tonne haul of amphetamines worth €1 billion, made by the Islamic State group in Syria.
The drugs, in the form of around 84 million Captagon tablets, were hidden inside industrial goods within containers and were intended to be sold on the European market to finance terrorism.
According to the finance police of Naples, the seizure is the largest of its kind in the world, and the drugs were worth approximately €1 billion ($1.12 billion).
Police said that the Islamic State finances its terrorist activities mainly by trafficking drugs made in Syria, which has become the world's largest producer of amphetamines in recent years.
The seizure was made at the port of Salerno, just south of Naples, where three suspect containers had arrived containing large cylindrical paper rolls for industrial use and industrial machinery.
After cutting open the paper rolls and metal gearwheels with chainsaws, police found them filled with tablets imprinted with two semi-circles, the symbol of Captagon.
Video images taken by police showed pills spilling out of the rolls and wheels as they were forced open.
Police also said that the seizure is a significant blow to the Islamic State's financing of terrorism, and that the organization's use of synthetic drugs to finance its activities is a major concern.
