U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers intercepted six separate ketamine smuggling attempts in Philadelphia, most recently on Dec. 11, that shipped from Europe to addresses in the United States.
Ketamine hydrochloride is a Schedule III non-narcotic compound regulated under the Controlled Substances Act. It is a dangerous anesthetic commonly known on the street as “Special K,” “Donkey Dust,” and “Cat Killer,” and is smoked, snorted, or mixed in beverages, or cut with other dangerous drugs. Overdoses can lead to serious health threats, such as nausea, elevated heart rate, unconsciousness, convulsions, and respiratory failure.
Ketamine is used lawfully by medical professionals to treat human and animal patients. However, ketamine is used illegally by street addicts and recreational users as a hallucinogen, similar to phencyclidine (PCP). Sexual predators also use ketamine to incapacitate their victims.
Each of the six shipments, which arrived between Sept. 23 through Dec. 11, were manifested as something different. Four shipments arrived from the United Kingdom, one from France, and one from The Netherlands. Four shipments were destined for Florida and two to Connecticut.
CBP officers inspected the shipments and discovered a white, crystalline substance concealed inside objects such as a punching bag base, plastic cleaning solvent bottles, plastic shell cases, and vacuum-sealed bags.
Officers used a handheld elemental isotope analysis tool to test samples of each of the substances and confirmed the samples to be ketamine hydrochloride.
Officers did not extract the ketamine from the punching bag bases due to officer safety concerns. The six ketamine shipments and concealment objects weighed a combined 160 pounds.
Officers seized the ketamine.
“Customs and Border Protection officers vigilantly safeguard our communities from the scourge of dangerous drugs, such as this ketamine, which has been used by sexual predators to assault victims,” said Cleatus P. Hunt, Jr., Area Port Director for CBP’s Area Port of Philadelphia. “CBP officers remain committed to disrupting drug smuggling attempts and working with our law enforcement partners to hold drug trafficking organizations accountable.”
The original announcement can be found here.