New investigation reveals a global underground trade in nitazenes thriving due to geopolitical shifts.

A months-long investigation by the collective project Bellingcat and Estonian media outlet Postimees has uncovered a growing global trade in nitazenes, synthetic opioids up to 40 times stronger than fentanyl and 500 times more potent than heroin.

Originally developed by a Swiss chemical company in the 1950s as painkillers, they were never approved due to their extreme potency. Currently, nitazenes have resurfaced in the illegal drug market, leading to a rise in overdoses across Europe and North America.

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The two teams found more than 1,000 online advertisements promoting nitazenes with worldwide delivery have been identified, many linked to Chinese companies. Sellers use complex networks of shell companies, frequently changing contact details and operating on platforms like TradeFord, TradeKey, and LinkedIn.

Nitazenes advertised as food additives.

Credit: Bellingcat

They investigators learned of connections between sanctioned Chinese firms and global illicit drug networks, including notorious trafficker Yip Chuen Fat. Among names mentioned as suppliers are Hanhong Pharmaceutical Technology, Jiangsu Bangdeya New Material Technology, Guangzhou Wanjiang Biotechnology Co.

Estonia was the first European country to detect isotonitazene in drug seizures in 2019. Since then, nitazenes have caused half of all drug-related deaths in the country. Criminal cases involving nitazenes have surged, with traffickers using creative concealment methods such as hiding drugs inside chocolate Kinder eggs or counterfeit oxycodone pills.

Other European nations, including Sweden, Latvia, and the U.K., have also reported increasing numbers of nitazene-related overdoses.

Countries where nitazenes were spotted between 2019 and 2023. Credit: Bellingcat

Authorities have traced shipments of nitazenes from China through intermediary countries such as Germany, Norway, and Sweden. Darknet markets, including Flugsvamp 4.0 and Archetyp, are suspected sources of nitazene supply, with European users and dealers obtaining the drugs in small but lethal quantities.

Police have seized less than 20kg of nitazenes across the EU, despite hundreds of recorded shipments.

China banned nine nitazenes in 2024, but at least 23 variants are circulating globally. Online marketplaces hosting nitazene ads have started removing listings following media scrutiny.

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Recent geopolitical shifts may accelerate the spread of nitazenes worldwide, the report suggests.

China’s 2019 ban on all fentanyl variants, a key driver of the U.S. opioid crisis, and the Taliban’s 2022 “poppy ban,” which drastically reduced Afghanistan’s opium production, have disrupted traditional drug supplies.

These factors have opened up a vacuum for alternative synthetic opioids – such as nitazenes – to emerge.

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