Customs officials yesterday discovered more than $.6 million worth of the date rape drug Ketamine at a courier bond in T&T.
This discovery came almost six months after the T&T Police Service found 12.7 kilogrammes of Ketamine with a street value of $8,623,300.
Ketamine is one of three new dangerous drugs, which have now been included under the Second Schedule of the Dangerous Drugs Act.
According to a release from the Customs and Excise Division yesterday:
“On July 7, acting on information received and conducting routine scans, Customs officials discovered a quantity of Ketamine (Date Rape Drug) in a box containing a plastic container at a courier bond.”
The weight of the Ketamine was .94kg and has a street value of $665,000, it stated.
“The package was examined and handed over to the Preventive Branch of the Customs and Excise Division,” the release stated.
No one was reported to have been arrested in connection with the illegal discovery.
Customs said investigations are ongoing in the matter.
On January 26, the seizure of over $8 million worth of illegal drugs and a quantity of cash in the Trincity area was made. During a search of the premises, officers found and seized 201 glass vials, each labelled ‘Ketamin 10% INJ 23ml for Veterinary Use Only’, along with 76 zip lock packets each containing a white crystal-like substance resembling the dangerous drug Ketamine.
The Ketamine which weighed 12.7 kilograms had a street value of $8,623,300.
Four Chinese nationals were arrested in that incident.
Ketamine is a dissociative anaesthetic.
Doctors use it to induce general anaesthesia for medical procedures that do not require muscle relaxation.
However according to the Medical News Today website some people use Ketamine for its hallucinogenic properties.
“Ketamine can sedate, incapacitate, and cause short-term memory loss, and because of this, some people use it as a date-rape drug,” it stated.
“Ketamine also causes individuals to have no memory of events that happen while they are under its influence. Due to this effect and its ability to sedate and incapacitate, some people use it as a date-rape drug. Perpetrators who use it in this manner may slip it into a beverage of the person they wish to victimise. Because it is odourless and tasteless, someone cannot detect it,” it stated.
Both alcohol and ketamine are central nervous system depressants and so the combined effects are dangerous.