The Financiers of the provincial command of the financial police of Varese, during an operation aimed at combating international drug trafficking, intercepted a flow of shipments from China containing a total of 6,337 kilos (6 tons and 337 kg) of drug precursors, from which further could have been produced 63 million MDMA pills (synthetic substance commonly known as ecstasy) con illicit profits estimated at over 630 million euros.
The shipments arrived at the Cargo City of the airport Malpensawere intercepted by the Guardia di Finanza of the Malpensa Group who identified the perfectly sealed packages indicating an “industrial” type of production. The content immediately aroused suspicion in the expert eyes of the financial police: grains of white dust and yellowish flakes did not appear consistent with the content declared upon importation.
The analyses were also carried out by the prestigious Ispra Research Institute (JRC), given the difficulty in identifying the nature of the chemical composition of the substance. Laboratory tests confirmed that the content was 1,063 kg of piperonyl methyl ketone (PMK): a chemical precursor used for the production of the narcotic substance MDMA. The load, initially destined for a company with registered office in Milan and operational headquarters in Caronno Pertusella in the Varese area and subsequently for a Dutch address, was the subject of “cross-border monitoring”, with the collaboration of the Dutch police.
International cooperation with Eurojust has enabled the launch of further separate investigations in the Netherlands, which have led to the identification of a drug storage site. Judicial police investigations in Dutch territory have allowed the arrest of two Chinese people. With just the PMK and BMK type substance seized in Italian territory, i.e. 6,337 kg, over 63 million MDMA tablets could have been produced: a number suitable to flood the European market, generating illicit profits estimated at 630 million euros. Following the conclusion of the investigations, in addition to the two arrested of Chinese nationality and residents in the Netherlands, the notice of conclusion of the preliminary investigations was notified to the legal representative of the Milanese company that imported the shipments into Italy: he is accused of having personally supervised all the import operations of the precursors, which he later resold in Holland.
