The UN narcotics control body, International Narcotics Control Board, has said an international early warning system blocked a shipment of chemicals used to make fentanyl that could have produced up to 1.6 billion potentially lethal doses.

INCB, in a statement on Thursday, said the interception highlighted the vital role of cooperation in tackling the rapidly evolving illegal drugs trade.

In its 2025 annual report, INCB said that authorities used its pre-export notification platform to stop the diversion of three tons of the precursor 1-boc-4-piperidone, a chemical intermediary used in the manufacture of fentanyl, between 700 million and 1.6 billion doses of the deadly street drug.

The case, in March 2025, is one of several examples cited by the INCB to illustrate what it dubs an “international success story” in terms of cooperation.

“Tackling the trafficking and misuse of drugs, while ensuring the availability of essential medicines, has been carried out effectively over the last 60 years through the drug control conventions, a robust framework for working together with almost universal support.

“Our role is to reinforce the cooperative efforts of countries and territories through our work,” INCB president Sevil Atasoy said.

According to the report, the efficiency of this system has kept the diversion of legitimately produced narcotic drugs into illicit markets “very low”, while diversion of psychotropic substances, such as heroin and other opioids, has “virtually stopped”.

In 2025 alone, more than 190 countries and territories cooperated through the online pre-export notification platform, monitoring over 34,000 planned shipments of internationally controlled drug precursors.

(NAN)