A record €1billion haul of “highly addictive” Islamic State amphetamines has been seized in Italy.
Police found 84 million “speed” tablets – worth around £910million – from Syria in paper and machinery parts rolls at the port of Salerno.
Detectives from the Italian Guardia di Finanza branch of law enforcement led the Captagon tablets bust in a major blow for the terror network.
The force said in a statement the operation was “the biggest seizure of amphetamines in the world”.
Police are trying to discover if there is a mafia link to the Captagon.
The drug emerged in the 1960s as a “psycho-stimulant” to help people with narcolepsy.
IS is thought to have developed a new version of the drug to make its’ “jihadi junkie” fighters more aggressive, but realised selling it abroad could earn big money to fund global terror.
Pictures and video of the fourteen-ton cache were released by Italian police.
A security source said today: “This is a big blow to Islamic State who are trying to expand their war chest.
“It also smashes what might have been a major link in their network internationally.
"Hopefully long-term that it will be more difficult for them to sell their drugs.
“They have been developing the ability to mass produce this type of pill for some time, firstly to keep their fighters on the frontline for longer.
“Many of Islamic State’s frontline fighters are known to be addicted to drugs that are supposed to enhance their ability to stay up for a long time and keep fighting.
"But this raid is also a worry because it shows IS is making inroads with major crime networks.”
The jihadi-junkie trend was first seen in Iraq in 2003 when British troops came across Saddam’s “fedayeen” jihadists drugged up and almost impossible to stop even when they were shot.
But in recent years gangster-like ISIS masterminds have realised the drugs, if made in large numbers, could earn the network a fortune to fund terror attacks globally.
