Prosecutors in Perugia have opened an
investigation after fentanyl was found as a cutting substance in
a dose of heroin seized recently in the area of the Umbrian
city, the first case of the kind in Italy, sources said
Thursday.
"I am concerned about what is emerging and I want to try to
understand if it is a sporadic event or if there have been other
similar episodes," Perugia Chief Prosecutor Raffaele Cantone
said a few days ago.
The National Early Warning System for Drugs (NEWS-D) coordinated
by the Department for Anti-Drug Policies (DPA) this week issued
an alert over the presence of fentanyl in the seized heroin
dose.
In liaison with Cabinet Secretary Alfredo Mantovano, the
National Prevention Plan against the Misuse of Fentanyl was
therefore activated, which provides for the alert to be sent to
all police forces and administrations.
The Calabria-based 'Ndrangheta, Italy's biggest, richest and
most powerful mafia due to its control of the European cocaine
market, is now interested in getting into the fentanyl trade,
Mantovano said as part of his intelligence service oversight
brief last month.
Mantovano described fentanyl, which has ravaged the USA and is
gaining a foothold in Europe, as "the zombie drug, with as
little as 1-2 milligrammes potentially being lethal".
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