Perugia probe opened into Fentanyl in heroin

(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 2 - 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". (ANSA).