On Monday, Italian authorities announced the seizure of six tons of chemical precursors from China, which could have been used to produce tens of millions of MDMA tablets, commonly known as ecstasy. The total retail value of the shipment is estimated at 630 million euros, AFP reports.
A businessman from Milan is under investigation, while two Chinese nationals have been arrested in the Netherlands as part of an investigation conducted with the support of the European judicial agency Eurojust. The Italian customs police reported that investigators “seized goods from China containing a total of 6.337 tons of drug precursors, which could have enabled the production of over 63 million MDMA tablets.”
The seizure took place at Milan’s Malpensa Airport during an inspection of goods declared at customs as polyester powder. However, the contents of the shipments actually consisted of “white powder granules and yellowish flakes” that did not match the declared description.
Analysis of the powder revealed it to be PMK, a precursor product for ecstasy, commonly used in perfume production.
The shipment was to be routed through a company based in Milan, with warehouses in Varese, in the same Lombardy region, before being sent to the Netherlands.
At the request of their Italian colleagues, Dutch police identified a storage location where dozens of kilograms of PMK, ketamine, methylamine, and hashish were seized. (Source: Agerpres)
