Four people were arrested by the Federal Police (PF) on the morning of Tuesday, 13, in Sao Paulo, suspected of integrating a criminal organization involved in the production and distribution of Nitazene-based narcotics, a drug considered more powerful than fentanyl and heroin and with high potential to cause overdose.
This is the first time an operation targets this recently identified chemical compound in the country.
The operation was triggered based on the investigation carried out after the first seizure of this substance in Brazil in December last year. Four preventive arrest warrants and eight search and seizure warrants were served, all at addresses located in the city of São Paulo.
The investigated, who did not have the names disclosed, will have individualized conduct and can be responsible for crimes of transnational drug trafficking and criminal organization. The report was unable to contact their defense.
Laboratory in Grande SP
The seizure that gave rise to the current operation took place on December 12, when the PF located a clandestine drug laboratory in Mogi das Cruzes, Greater São Paulo. The place was used to make synthetic drugs, known as K Drugs.
In analyzing the seized material, the agents identified the use of Nitazene, a chemical of high psychotropic power, illegally imported. It was the first seizure of the substance in the country, according to the PF.
Inclusion in Anvisa’s narcotic list
In January of this year, the Federal Police Department used the New Psychoactive Substance notification form to ask the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) to include Nitazene (N-Desetile etonitazen) in the List of Proscript Narcotic substances.
The request was accepted. The measure has repercussions on criminal law, as the substance is considered narcotic drug of prohibited use.
In March, by voting in favor of inclusion, Anvisa’s director and request rapporteur Daniel Meirelles Fernandes Pereira said that the substances called “Nitazenos” have analgesic potential, but can cause respiratory depression at high risk of abuse and toxicity, and therefore without therapeutic use.
In his vote, he adds that Nitazenos can provide users similar to opioids such as morphine and fentanil, but some class substances are much more powerful.
“This means that substantially smaller doses are necessary to achieve the desired effects by users which increases the risk of accidental overdose,” he wrote.
