Poland and Ukraine make “unprecedented” synthetic drug seizures in joint operation

The Polish and Ukrainian authorities, in cooperation with EU law enforcement agency Europol, have mounted a major operation to shut down synthetic drug production sites in their two countries.

Poland’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBŚP) says that the operation was the largest ever undertaken in Europe aimed at combatting the production of synthetic opioids. Europol notes that an “unprecedented” amount of drugs was seized and the biggest synthetic opioid lab ever discovered in Poland was dismantled.

The CBŚP and the Counter Narcotics Department of the National Police of Ukraine last week raided 38 production sites for synthetic opioids and cathinones – lab-made stimulants more commonly known as “bath salts”.

The authorities secured a total of 195 kilograms of methadone – a type of synthetic opioid – in crystalline form, 153 kilograms of a cathinone known as alpha-PVP, and more than 430 litres of mixtures of various types of drugs prepared for the final production stage.

According to Europol, this was an “unprecedented amount of synthetic drugs”. The methadone alone “could kill almost 4 million people”, added the CBŚP. They also seized chemicals and equipment used in the production of the drugs and detained seven people involved in the drug production activities.

The CBŚP hailed the “strong partnership between Polish and Ukrainian [law-enforcement] services”, saying that such cross-border cooperation is “crucial for the security of our countries’ societies against threats resulting from international organised drug crime”.

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In June, Poland’s health ministry introduced a monitoring system for opioid prescriptions amid concerns over a growing number of cases relating to the use of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 20 to 40 times more potent than heroin that was linked to almost 75,000 deaths in the United States last year.

At the time, Poland’s state sanitary inspectorate had recorded almost 50 cases of fentanyl poisoning since the beginning of the year and at least four recent deaths had been linked to the drug.

Some such drugs – including fentanyl and methadone – are legitimately used in medicine as a strong form of pain relief, for example for cancer patients or those recovering from surgery, as well as in the treatment of opioid addiction. However, in their illicit trade, they contribute to drug abuse and addiction.

Main image credit: CBŚP

Agata Pyka

Agata Pyka is an assistant editor at Notes from Poland. She is a journalist and a political communication student at the University of Amsterdam. She specialises in Polish and European politics as well as investigative journalism and has previously written for Euractiv and The European Correspondent.