French authorities have seized a huge quantity of methamphetamine with an estimated value of nearly €6 million.
The drugs seized in southeastern France weighed 216 kilograms, said a statement from the prosecutor's office in Marseille, which called the seizure "exceptional".
By comparison, the total amount of methamphetamine seized nationwide in 2022 amounted to 273 kilograms, according to Interior Ministry figures for the latest year available.
According to a police source, the average retail price of the highly addictive drug in 2023 was 27 euros per gram, AFP reported.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime has warned that methamphetamine, the world's most widely used synthetic stimulant, is one of the biggest threats to global health.
In June 2019, authorities seized nearly 400 kg of methamphetamines from a truck travelling in eastern France.
Less than a year later, in February 2020, customs officials seized a truck carrying 175 kilograms of the drug in the southwestern department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, near the Spanish border. | BGNES
