Dutch police seize large shipment of core fentanyl ingredient

AMSTERDAM – Dutch prosecutors said on Monday they had seized 25 kilograms of a key ingredient for the production of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that can be lethal even in tiny doses.

Police found the shipment of N-boc-4-piperidone, a pale powder that is a core ingredient of fentanyl, last Tuesday, prosecutors said in a statement.

It was unclear where the chemicals were headed, but there was no indication that they were intended for pharmaceutical use, they added.

The statement did not say where the seizure took place, and prosecutors did not respond to an immediate request for comment.

A rough calculation showed that the amount seized would be enough to make more than 15 million 2-milligram doses of fentanyl, according to the prosecutors.

Several European countries have recently also reported increasing fatalities from the use of synthetic opioids, Dutch drug expertise centre Trimbos said in October.

In the US, fentanyl is the top killer of Americans aged 18 to 45, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), with nearly 75,000 people died from overdoses last year.