Italy Seizes 14 Tons of ISIS-made Amphetamines

Armed police officers stand on duty in Florence, Italy September 22, 2017. REUTERS/Max Rossi
Armed police officers stand on duty in Florence, Italy September 22, 2017. REUTERS/Max Rossi
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Italy Seizes 14 Tons of ISIS-made Amphetamines

Armed police officers stand on duty in Florence, Italy September 22, 2017. REUTERS/Max Rossi
Armed police officers stand on duty in Florence, Italy September 22, 2017. REUTERS/Max Rossi

Italian police said Wednesday they have seized a world record 14-ton haul of amphetamines made by ISIS in Syria.

The drug, in the form of 84 million Captagon tablets, was worth about one billion euros, police said in a statement, describing the operation as "the biggest seizure of amphetamines in the world."

"We know that ISIS finances its terrorist activities mainly by trafficking drugs made in Syria which in the past few years has become the world's largest producer of amphetamines," the statement added, according to Agence France Presse.

The shipment was hidden in three containers found in the port of Salerno, just south of Naples.

Captagon, a brand name, was originally for medical use but illegal versions have been widely used by ISIS militants in combat, the police said.



Italian Journalist Cecilia Sala Released from Iran and Returning Home

This photograph taken in Pordenone on September 16, 2023, shows Italian journalist Cecilia Sala posing for a photo at the Pordenonelegge Literature Festival in Pordenone. (ANSA/AFP)
This photograph taken in Pordenone on September 16, 2023, shows Italian journalist Cecilia Sala posing for a photo at the Pordenonelegge Literature Festival in Pordenone. (ANSA/AFP)
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Italian Journalist Cecilia Sala Released from Iran and Returning Home

This photograph taken in Pordenone on September 16, 2023, shows Italian journalist Cecilia Sala posing for a photo at the Pordenonelegge Literature Festival in Pordenone. (ANSA/AFP)
This photograph taken in Pordenone on September 16, 2023, shows Italian journalist Cecilia Sala posing for a photo at the Pordenonelegge Literature Festival in Pordenone. (ANSA/AFP)

An Italian journalist detained in Iran since Dec. 19 and whose fate became intertwined with that of an Iranian engineer wanted by the United States was freed Wednesday and is heading home, Italian officials announced.

A plane carrying Cecilia Sala took off from Tehran after “intensive work on diplomatic and intelligence channels,” Premier Giorgia Meloni’s office said, adding that Meloni had informed Sala's parents of the news.

There was no immediate word from the Iranian government on the journalist’s release.

Sala, a 29-year-old reporter for the Il Foglio daily, was detained in Tehran on Dec. 19, three days after she arrived on a journalist visa. She was accused of violating the laws of the country, the official IRNA news agency said.

Italian commentators had speculated that Iran was holding Sala as a bargaining chip to ensure the release of Mohammad Abedini, who was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport three days before on Dec. 16, on a US warrant.

The US Justice Department accused him and another Iranian of supplying the drone technology to Iran that was used in a January 2024 attack on a US outpost near the Syrian-Jordanian border that killed three American troops.

He remains in detention in Italy.