WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - U.S. Customs and Border Protection has announced that its officers have intercepted six separate ketamine smuggling attempts in Philadelphia.
Each of the six shipments, which arrived between September 23 through December 11, were shipped from Europe to addresses in the United States.
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.
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. Sexual predators also use ketamine to incapacitate their victims.
The six ketamine shipments and concealment objects weighed a combined 160 pounds, CBP said in a pess release.
'CBP officers and agents seized an average of 1,571 pounds of drugs, including 78 pounds of fentanyl, every day at our nation's air, sea, and land ports of entry', it added.
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