Xanthines

Trade in the amphetamine-type stimulant captagon in the Middle East grew exponentially in 2021 to top $5 billion, posing an increasing health and security risk to the region, a report said.

Research by the New Lines Institute, to be released Tuesday and seen by AFP, paints an alarming picture of the impact booming captagon production is having on the region.

Customs teams confiscated over a ton of Captagon drug pills at the İskenderun Port in southern Turkey, the biggest seizure of its kind, the country's trade minister said on May 16. 

A total of 1,072 kilograms (2,000 pounds) of Captagon drugs - more than 6.2 million pills - were seized during search by customs officials of Hatay province from May 15-16, Mehmet Muş said on Twitter.

Financial crimes investigators in the port of Piraeus on Thursday completed a count of a haul of drugs seized at a container terminal last week, saying it consists of more than 33 million counterfeit Captagon pills, containing the powerful psychostimulant fenethylline.

The haul is the biggest of its kind worldwide and has an estimated street value of 500 million dollars.

Financial crimes investigators in the port city of Piraeus had almost completed the count of a haul of counterfeit drugs seized from a container terminal on Tuesday morning, saying it consists of an estimated 23 million pills of the drug fenetylline, stamped to look like the Captagon brand.

Greek authorities seized a huge number Captagon pills from a freighter at Piraeus port on Wednesday, which may prove to be the largest haul ever achieved in the country.
The drugs were stashed inside 60 pallets loaded with lumber products found in three containers. Officials have so far counted 1.4 million pills in just one of the pallets. Counting is expected to take a few days.

A large cache of Captagon pills, also known as the jihadist's drug, were seized on Sunday in Igoumenitsa, northwestern Greece, local port authorities said on Monday.
Three Bulgarian nationals, aged 31, 34 and 58, were arrested and remanded in custody. They are accused of trying to smuggle 369,545 pills out of the country through Igoumenitsa port.

Greek police arrested a Bulgarian drug trafficker with pills worth more than 7.3m euros, the BNR reported. They track his contacts in Greece. The Anti-Organized Crime Department investigate whether the Bulgarian is part of an international channel.
 

Greek authorities investigating a large haul of Captagon pills seized from a container ship at Piraeus port said on Tuesday they have so far counted more than 5 million items.

The drugs were stashed inside 540 lead plates, most each of which contained about 10,000 pills.

Greek authorities have launched an investigation in cooperation with their Turkish counterparts after customs officials at Piraeus port on Monday found a large quantity of fenethylline pills - also known as the "Jihadist's" drug - in a container ship.

The vessel had docked at Piraeus on its way from Syria to Dubai.

Greece has seized drugs worth more than 100 million euros ($113 million) after intercepting a Syrian ship sailing for Libya, the coast guard said on Friday.

Officials found about six tonnes of processed cannabis and 3 million super-strength "Captagon" amphetamine pills hidden aboard the Syrian-flagged "Noka", it said in a statement.