The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Ketamine smuggling: suspects go missing from airport

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 13, 2006
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Ketamine smuggling: suspects go missing from airport

Staff Reporter

78.8 kg of the drug, valued at more than Rs.15 crore in the foreign market, recovered

Thiruvananthapuram: Two passengers suspected to be involved in a drug smuggling racket gave the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) the slip at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport here on September 2. Officials who inspected their baggage found 78.8 kg of ketamine hydrochloride, an anaesthetic often abused by youth as a party drug in Malaysia and the U.S. The drug is valued at more than Rs.15 crore in the foreign market.

The DRI had specific information on the drug smuggling operation. The suspects arrived at the airport around 8 a.m. They were bound for Kuala Lumpur on a SriLankan airlines flight scheduled to take-off at 10.15 a.m. They checked in their baggage and were issued boarding passes after security clearance. They were also charged extra for carrying excess baggage. The DRI agents waited at the boarding area of the airport, but the suspects never turned up. Their baggage was later found unclaimed in the loading area. The "drug smugglers" seemed to have been warned of the presence of the DRI, following which they exited the airport at the last minute, official sources said. The suspected smugglers hail from Chennai in Tamil Nadu.

The matter has been taken very seriously by security agencies. "Two passengers being able to leave the airport complex unchallenged after being issued boarding passes is a serious breach of security," an intelligence officer at the airport said. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) is in charge of airport security and its armed personnel guard the entrance and exit gates.

Official sources said the smugglers made no attempt to conceal the drug. A separate inquiry was on to find out whether the smuggling operation was facilitated by anyone working at the airport.

In March, the DRI had seized 20.5 kg of the drug from two passengers at the airport here. They were also bound for Kuala Lumpur from Colombo.

The drug is easily available in India. Drug enforcers suspect certain private laboratories and hospitals to be illegally diverting the drug for sale on the street as a narcotic substance.

Ketamine is known as `K' or `Ket' on the streets of Colombo, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and in the United States.

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