The Hindu : Front Page : DRI busts `K' drug smuggling racket

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 29, 2006

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DRI busts `K' drug smuggling racket

G. Anand

Thiruvananthapuram: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has busted a racket involved in the smuggling of ketamine hydrochloride, an anaesthetic often abused by youth as a party drug, to Sri Lanka and Malaysia. The DRI has arrested Muhammad Ali Jinnah, 34, a resident of Tamil Nadu, in connection with the incident.

According to the DRI, Jinnah was intercepted while attempting to fly to Colombo from the international airport here on Saturday morning. Nearly 20.5 kg of the drug, valued at nearly Rs.4 crores, was seized from the baggage submitted for security and Customs check in the name of Jinnah, an official said. The drug was skilfully concealed in packets of flour and oats. Three of Jinnah's fellow travellers were arrested the same day on the charge of smuggling Indian star tortoises, a protected wildlife species, to Colombo.

The drug, which is often used as an anaesthetic, is easily available in India. The DRI suspects that certain private laboratories and hospitals were illegally diverting the drug for sale in the street as a narcotic substance.

According to a website on drug enforcement, Ketamine is known as "K" or "Ket" in the streets of Colombo, Kuala Lumpur, the United States and Bangkok. The website reports that the abuse of ketamine as a "party drug" has been on the increase among the youth in these countries. The bulk of the drug is sourced from India and often orders are placed through "shadowy" pharmaceutical companies that advertise their products on the Internet. Ketamine is distributed at "rave" parties in the West.

Another website on the abuse of Ketamine says that the drug causes "dissociation in the user and its effects range from rapture and paranoia to extreme boredom." High doses of the drug could knock the user into a coma.

An official of the Narcotic Control Bureau said instances of abuse of ketamine has been "far and few" in India. However, there were unconfirmed reports that the abuse of ketamine along with another chemical known as "ecstasy" was on the increase among the urban middle class in some parts of the country. The Narcotic Drugs and Psychothropic Substances (NDPS) Act in India do not cover Ketamine. Hence, the DRI has booked Jinnah on the charge of violating the Customs Act, an official said.

The seizure of ketamine by the DRI has prompted various enforcement agencies to take a hard look at the current drug abuse pattern in Kerala.

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