Dutch police look for 2 suspects in 'jihadi drug' case

Dutch police were searching for two suspects after a drugs laboratory was found with a large stash of pills favoured by jihadists, a media report said.

During a raid on April 5 in Brunssum, a drug lab was discovered hidden in a barn.

Pills with the logo of Captagon and raw materials, as well as a machine for making tablets were found. In a neighbouring house, three firearms were also discovered, Efe news reported on Wednesday.

Police officials said they do not know if the pills were destined for the Middle East.

"The occupant of the neighbouring house, a 40-year-old man, was arrested on April 11. His 39-year-old girlfriend was arrested on May 8. Just before the raid two men fled," police said.

The investigation is still underway to identify the two men," said police officials.

Analysis by the Netherlands Forensic Institute found that the seized pills contain two ingredients, amphetamine and caffeine.

"The pills were of a type used as a stimulant in the Middle East but it was not known if that was their destination," said police.

Captagon is a popular drug among combatant groups in the Middle East, where it is used as an "upper" to keep fighters awake and alert.

It is the first time this sort of pill has been found in The Netherlands, reported Dutch daily Telegraaf.

Meanwhile, Italy's financial police revealed this week that they had uncovered 37.5 million pills of another drug -- tramadol -- also used by Islamist fighters, BBC reported.

The cargo was heading for Libya. Tramadol is a synthetic opioid-like drug used as a painkiller.

Italian police said the consignment would have been used for two purposes -- to help finance Islamist terrorism and for use by jihadist fighters as a stimulant and to heighten resistance to physical stress.

Abuse of tramadol was described by a report this year as "rampant" in the ranks of Boko Haram fighters in Nigeria and to have played a role in "enabling atrocities on both sides of the conflict".

In March, Greek police arrested four suspects in a fake Captagon-making ring and confiscated 650,000 tablets.

--IANS

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