In its biggest seizure in the recent past,over 400 kg of Ketamine -commonly known as date rape drug -has been seized by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence from a port in Tamil Nadu. The consignment containing 440 kg of Ketamine Hydrochloride,worth over Rs 50 crore in the international market,was meant to be smuggled to Malaysia. It was seized by DRI sleuths from Tuticorin port,Chennai late yesterday,official sources said. The DRI has also arrested three people including a person arrested by it in 2007 in a similar case. The sources said the consignment was covered under two shipping bills consigned to Malaysia and declared to contain iodised salt,fried grams,rice flakes and other miscellaneous items. In all,the goods declared under the two shipping bills containing 519 kg of iodised salt weighed about 13 metric tones. An inspection of the salt bags revealed that 22 bags contained the drug,which,though not covered under the stringent NDPS Act requires a license to be exported from Narcotics Commissioner,Gwalior. Sources said,since regular export of salt also happened through this port the smugglers would have zeroed in on the Tuticorin port. Three persons,A P T Mahadevan,Kandasamy and Satish Kumar have been arrested in this connection,sources said. Incidentally,Mahadevan was earlier arrested by the DRI in 2007 in connection with the seizure of 100 kg of Ephedrine (a chemical commonly used as a stimulant). Sources said while the total value of the seized substance in the Indian market is about Rs two crore,the price shoots up to about Rs 50 crore once it is smuggled out. During 2008,the Directorate had also seized 201 kg of Ketamine in a single operation. Earlier in November this year,DRI had seized 300 kg of the contraband in Chennai. Ketamine,essentially a veterinary anaesthetic is known to cause hallucination,mental clouding and when consumed in higher dose,it may act as a paralysing psychedelic. It also acts as a recreational drug,often misused for committing sexual assaults and is generally referred to as date rape drug. Sources said though the abuse of Ketamine in the country is not much known,it has been spreading rapidly in the rave party scene as a club drug in East and Southeast Asia and also in Europe.
