A deadly ‘Franken-drug’ that is flooding into Britain is being advertised on X and Soundcloud, an investigation has found.
Thousands of social media posts promoting Nitazenes have been removed amid fears they were fuelling the spread of the powerful illegal drug.
It has been linked to more than 100 deaths in the UK, averaging nearly three a week in recent times.
Following a BBC investigation into the Class A narcotic, the two social media giants removed a number of these posts, but many listings still remained online.
The Chinese-made Nitazenes have become popular among criminals and are being smuggled into the UK to be mixed into heroin and other illegal substances because they are cheap and addictive.
They are produced in laboratories and are several hundred times more potent than fentanyl, heroin and morphine.
Thousands of social media posts promoting Nitazenes have been removed amid fears they were fuelling the spread of the powerful illegal drug
Following a BBC investigation into the Class A narcotic, SoundCloud removed a number of these posts, but many listings still remained online
Nitazenes were originally developed as painkillers by Swiss pharma company Ciba in the 1950s but they never reached the market.
They have, however, cropped up among drug users in the US over the past few years, seeing them nicknamed ‘Frankenstein’ opioids as they are so powerful.
It is thought to have formally arrived in the UK around three years ago, when the National Crime Agency first spotted it among overdose patients.
Users often take them unknowingly when consuming other illegal substances as dealers look to cut production costs.
The BBC contacted 35 suppliers of the drug – 14 advertising on SoundCloud, six advertising on X, and 15 contacted via a website promoting wholesale chemical manufacturers.
After testing a range of drugs in a lab, they found Nitazenes in street heroin and black market anti-anxiety pills such as Xanax and Valium, which dealers had wrongly claimed them to be.
The evidence suggests dozens of suppliers are sending Nitazenes in the post from China, where they are manufactured in laboratories, having advertised openly on the internet.
The majority of the adverts contained the name and pictures of the drug, as well as contact details for secure messaging platforms and promises of secure shipping or customs clearance.
Many also offered bulk purchases for dealers to sell on in small batches, rather than selling to individual drug users.
Some of these suppliers told the BBC they would evade customs by disguising the Nitazenes in dog food and catering supplies.
Available in powder, tablet and liquid form, nitazenes can be injected, swallowed, placed under the tongue, snorted and vaped
On being asked how they used SoundCloud to advertise their product, one supplier said: ‘It’s a music platform but we can make an advertisement on it.’
Available in powder, tablet and liquid form, nitazenes can be injected, swallowed, placed under the tongue, snorted and vaped.
The drugs trigger feelings of pain relief, euphoria, relaxation and sleepiness. But they can also lead to sweating, itching and nausea.
Nitazenes mimic the effects of natural opioids — such as morphine — and are often cut with these drugs, creating a deadly cocktail.
Two dozen deaths were linked to the isotonitazene, a form of nitazene, in 2021 alone, according to data from the UK’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.
Claire Rocha’s musical son Dylan was one of the first deaths linked to nitazene-contaminated drugs in the UK.
Dylan’s band had been on tour in the UK before the covid pandemic when he was found dead in Southmapton in 2021.
Mrs Rocha described the recent findings as ‘shocking’ and added that it was ‘absolutely crazy’ that thousands of adverts were posted on SoundCloud and X.
She said: ‘How has that been allowed to happen? How many people have died as a result of that being advertised there?’
Charles Yates of the National Crime Agency said the rise in nitazenes was because the production of the drug is cheap, which attracts criminals whose ‘sole motivation is greed’.
He also stressed that the agency was working with police, Border Force and international partners to ensure that ‘all lines of enquiry are prioritised and vigorously pursued to stem any supply of nitazenes to and within the UK’.
Last month, 14 nitazenes and one other synthetic opioid were categorised as Class A drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 – meaning anyone found possessing them could be sentenced to seven years in prison or an unlimited fine.
Nitazenes were originally developed as painkillers by Swiss pharma company Ciba in the 1950s but they never reached the market
Home Secretary James Cleverly said the ban had adopted a generic definition of nitazenes to capture any new drugs that emerge in the future.
He said: ‘We are highly alert to the threat from synthetic drugs and have been taking a range of preventative action, learning from experiences around the globe, to keep these vile drugs off our streets.
‘Our plan is working – the overall quantities of synthetic opioids reaching the UK remain lower than other countries, but we are not complacent.
‘Placing these toxic drugs under the strictest controls sends a clear message that the consequences for peddling them will be severe.’
According to the Home Office, there has been an ‘intensive operational effort to track down [nitazenes] and their suppliers – on the streets, at the borders and online’.
It also made clear that tech companies ‘must do more to swiftly remove this type of content… and prevent users from being exposed to it’ to fall in line with the Online Safety Act, which became law last year.
When the suppliers were asked why they were providing an illegal product, only six responded and all claimed they had never sent anything to the UK.
SoundCloud told the BBC it was ‘being targeted by bad actors’ and said it promised to do ‘everything we can to tackle this worldwide epidemic’. The website has also removed nearly 3,000 posts.
MailOnline has approached SoundCloud and X for a further comment.
Source: Mail Online
