During an inspection at Vienna-Schwechat airport on October 14, Austrian customs struck a massive blow against international drug crime.

50 million pseudoephedrine tablets were confiscated in 2,16 cartons that were delivered from Dubai by plane. From these tablets, around 233 kg of crystal meth with a street sales value of around 8 million euros should have been made, according to the responsible ministry. “Our customs officers prevented addictive substances worth eight million euros from reaching the European black market. This has dealt a severe blow to international drug smuggling. We are continuing to act with determination against drug-related crime, ”said Finance Minister Magnus Brunner.

Pseudoephedrine is a chemical that is used in the manufacture of the drug methamphetamine ("crystal meth"). A consignment from Dubai weighing 2,2 tonnes with its destination Skopje in North Macedonia was targeted by customs. During a special check in the customs warehouse, the customs officers first noticed that the shipment consisted of unlabelled and partly open packages and contained “Decancit SR” tablets. The customs officers were not only suspicious of the condition of the packaging, which is unusual for medicinal products, and the large number of tablets. Above all, the ingredient "120 mg pseudoephedrine" contained in the package leaflet set the alarm bells ringing among the officials. A positive rapid drug test confirmed the active ingredient "ephedrine".

When it was also established that the recipient named in the shipping documents did not even exist in North Macedonia, the suspicion was reinforced: the tablets could be used as a drug precursor. Because of the suspicion of diversion, customs switched on the Federal Criminal Police Office. The police investigations, which were also carried out internationally, confirmed the urgent suspicion of a diversion into drug production. In this case, Austria was only used as a transit country with an international dimension in order to disguise the planned diversion. The pharmaceuticals are now subsequently destroyed by the Austrian customs office.