Almost $20 million worth of the drug ecstasy has been uncovered inside a van in northern NSW.

The van was stopped on the Kamilaroi Highway at Quirindi for a random breath test about 2pm (AEDT) last Wednesday.

A search of the van allegedly uncovered seven cardboard boxes of chemical glassware used to make drugs.

Two Sydney men, both aged 27, were charged with possessing drug manufacturing apparatus. They appeared in court later that day and were granted conditional bail.

Meanwhile, the van was forensically examined by police attached to the Chemical Operations Unit.

They allegedly located 19.5kg of MDMA, otherwise known as ecstasy, hidden in the van and a search was immediately launched for the two men.

smh.com.au
police.nsw.gov.au

A Thai woman swallowed more than 1,200 ecstasy pills wrapped in plastic and tried to smuggle them into the Indonesian resort island of Bali, officials said Monday.

Customs officials said Ueamduen Sophawat, 24, appeared nervous and was found to have a hard stomach during a body search at Bali's international airport as she arrived Thursday on a flight from Bangkok.

She was taken to hospital and 1,280 ecstasy pills were found in her stomach, Bali customs chief I Made Wijaya told a press conference.

thejakartaglobe.com

A 6,000-kilo seizure of a precursor chemical used to make ecstasy and methamphetamine is the biggest interception ever by the Canada Border Services Agency, Communications Advisor Faith St. John said Thursday.

Three people have been arrested in connection with the massive shipment of the chemical P2P - phenyl 2 propanone - which is estimated to be worth almost $10 million, St. John said. The suspects have been released pending charge approval. All three are known to police and are believed to have links to an Asian organized crime group.

vancouversun.com

U.S. agents at the border patrol station in Curlew, Wash. seized 310-pounds of the designer drug on a trail near the border after receiving a tip from a citizen.

The street value of the ecstasy was estimated at $9.4 million.

The pills were in backpacks and bags concealed in brush along a trail near the border and James Frackelton, acting public information officer for the U.S. Border Patrol, estimates that there were about 468,000 pills.

bclocalnews.com

The latest national report into so-called party drugs in Australia indicates that ecstasy is getting less pure and drug users are finding it harder to get.

But experts believe drug users may just be using a new synthetic drug instead.

The Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System (ERDRS) annually surveys 700 regular ecstasy users from across Australia about their drug habits.

abc.net.au

Codenamed, ‘Operación Zumo’ the 12 Britons arrested are eight men and four women. Six properties have been searched, three in Orihuela and three in Torrevieja, and police have impounded a vehicle which was carrying 53,000 ecstasy pills, destination Ibiza. In total, five vehicles have been impounded along with a six metre long boat, precisions scales and a well-hidden marihuana plantation in Crevillente, Alicante.

typicallyspanish.com
thesun.co.uk
liverpoolecho.co.uk
cnn.com

A single church-going mother desperately tries to save her two daughters from walking down the same dark path she was once on; and a young woman fights against addiction to a mysterious party drug.

ecstasyfilm.com

Ecstasy may help boost therapy success in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder, say researchers.

A small trial in 20 patients has shown use of the drug is safe and seems to improve the effects of psychotherapy.

The US team has now gained approval for a larger study in military veterans, but stresses more research is needed to confirm the finding.

.bbc.co.uk