The National Republican Guard (GNR) seized 432 cylinders of nitrous oxide, also known as the “laughing drug”, at the Paderne toll booth on Highway no. 2 (A2), in Albufeira, in the Algarve, and which were being transported to Spain.
In a statement released this Saturday, December 6, the GNR indicated that the seizure occurred on Thursday, as part of a road inspection action, in conjunction with the Faro Traffic Detachment, in which the Guard’s military personnel inspected a vehicle heading towards Spain, detecting 432 cylinders of nitrous oxide inside.
“No proof was presented that the substance was intended for industrial purposes or pharmaceutical use, namely through the necessary authorization from the National Authority for Medicines and Health Products, IP (INFARMED)”which is why the nitrous oxide cylinders were seized, said this security force.
During the inspection at the Paderne tolls on the A2, the motorway that connects Lisbon to the Algarve, a 27-year-old man was also identified, a partner of the company responsible for transporting the cylinders, and an administrative offense report was drawn up.
According to the GNR, the seized cylinders and the administrative offense report will be forwarded to the Food and Economic Security Authority (ASAE).
Also known as the “laughing drug” or “laughing gas”, nitrous oxide or nitrogen protoxide (N₂O) is a psychoactive substance “whose consumption has been identified in a recreational context for its euphoric, analgesic and anxiolytic effects”, indicated the GNR.
According to the guard, the substance also causes “sensory changes in the perception of space and time and disturbances in motor coordination, and its continued use may cause, in the long term, serious damage to the immune system, changes in memory, among other neurological injuries”.