U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport added a new piece of technology that immediately begun to pay dividends when it identified 49 pounds of a Schedule I Controlled Substance shipped to Dallas.
CBP officers added the Gemini Thermo Scientific Analyzer to their inventory and, on its initial use, intercepted a shipment of Gamma-Butyrolactone (GBL), an illegal substance.
The Gemini Thermo Scientific Analyzer is a portable handheld device developed to identify unknown synthetic substances with the use of a laser or infrared beam. The device is capable of identifying over 14,000 different substances including industrial chemicals, bomb-making materials and narcotics. It will allow CBP officers to identify potentially harmful substances intercepted at U.S. ports of entry without having to send a sample to a lab for analysis. Results from this device are also admissible in court.
CBP officers at the DFW cargo facility are using the Gemini to identify substances they encounter during their examinations. Officers were examining a shipment manifested as mixed ink but the Gemini returned an identification of GBL. GBL is a substance that when ingested metabolizes into Gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, GHB, commonly referred to as a club drug or a date rape drug. GHL is used to produce GHB illegally in the U.S. and both substances are listed on the Schedule of Controlled Substances requiring a permit from the Drug Enforcement Administration in order to import the substances.
