Date:08/02/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/02/08/stories/2008020859050800.htm

Tamil Nadu

10 kg ketamine hydrochloride seized in two days

P. Oppili

— Photo: A. Muralitharan

Huge haul: C. Rajan, Commissioner of Customs (Airport), explaining how ketamine hydrochloride was concealed in a courier parcel, in Chennai on Thursday.

CHENNAI: The Chennai Air Customs seized 10 kg of ketamine hydrochloride in two separate cases in the last two days.

While one consignment of the drug was seized at the courier terminal of the old airport, the second was seized from a Kuala Lumpur-bound passenger at the Anna international terminal.

C. Rajan, Commissioner of Customs (Airport), said the Customs officials at the Courier Terminal detained a parcel booked by Babu of Bangalore, consigned to Taiwan, on Tuesday. It had been declared as teak wood for gift purposes.

The parcel contained two wooden artworks. When officials opened the nailed wooden panels on the rear side, they found two packets of ketamine hydrochloride, weighing 5 kg.

The consignor’s address was found to be fictitious.

Passenger intercepted

In the second seizure, Customs officals intercepted a Kuala Lumpur-bound passenger, Shahul Hameed Nizamdeen (36) of Chennai. A cardboard box, carried as checked-in luggage, raised doubts.

When they saw an inner layer on the four sides of the carton, it was priced open. The drug was found concealed in five polythene covers.

The passenger confessed that he had agreed to carry the contraband for a monetary consideration.

He was arrested and further investigation is on.

The source

Preliminary investigations revealed that the drug is normally procured from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

Some big pharmaceutical companies entrust the work of preparing ketamine-based drugs to small private units.

A sizeable quantity is pilfered from these units and sold to smugglers.

A veterinarian said ketamine is an anaesthetic largely used in pet and wildlife treatment.

As far as animals are concerned the dosage is based on their body weight and the condition for which it is used.

Normally drug traffickers procure the drug in small quantities and store them. Talking about the drug’s effects on humans, the veterinarian said depending upon the quantity consumed, a person would get a high.

Effects on body

Long-term use would result in changes in blood pressure, damage brain cells and affect the liver, the veterinarian said, adding that use of ketamine for recreational purposes was on the rise.