NBI raid nets biggest ketamine drug haul February 16, 2006 - inq7.net
AGENTS of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) seized during a raid on Wednesday P53 million worth of ketamine hydrochloride, described as "the biggest haul" ever, of the drug which is reportedly fast becoming popular among young adults.
The 53,304 vials of liquid ketamine were discovered in the house of Harris Abichandi, an Indian businessman, on Hamburg St., Merville Subdivision, Para?aque City. Abichandi, 47, was arrested by NBI agents.
"Past raids involving ketamine have not yielded this much," NBI officer in charge Nestor Mantaring said in a press conference yesterday. "This may well be the bureau's biggest ketamine haul so far."
Abichandi, however, denied the allegations against him, saying he was only an "ordinary" trader. "Somebody just delivered the shipment to me," the suspect said, adding that he was cooperating with authorities on the investigation.
Regional Director Reynaldo Esmeralda, NBI Special Task Force (STF) chief, said they conducted the raid after receiving a tip from an informant that a big drug shipment arrived from India and passed through the Bureau of Customs (BOC) last Monday. After confirming that the cargo was delivered to the suspect, NBI STF agents immediately applied for a search warrant.
NBI National Capital Region director Ruel Lasala explained that Indian traders usually import liquid ketamine from their country and then sell the drug to Taiwanese and Chinese drug traffickers for processing into powder form. The finished products are then shipped to Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong, where they have become as popular as Ecstasy tablets, Lasala added.
"The vials, which cost about a thousand each, triple in price when sold in powder form abroad," he explained. Apart from its hallucinogenic effects on party goers, ketamine can also be used by sex predators to disable their victims. "Liquid ketamine can easily be mixed with beverages while the powder form can be sprinkled on cigarettes," Lasala said, explaining that ketamine use could increase blood pressure by 85 percent and the heart rate by 20 percent.
Ketamine is a legal drug sold as a sedative for animals or as anesthetic for humans. When used on people, it acts as a disassociative anesthesia, making the user vaguely aware of, but detached from all bodily sensations. Its most common effects are delirium, vivid hallucinations, confusion, violent or aggressive behavior, vertigo, slurred speech, delayed reaction time, euphoria, and amnesia.
Last year, the Dangerous Drugs Board reclassified ketamine as a controlled substance to make unauthorized possession of the drug punishable by law.
Esmeralda said he would send two of his agents to India next week to identify who was behind the importation. "We will also investigate Abichandi's possible connections at the BOC," he added.
Mantaring said charges for violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 had been filed against the suspect. No bail was recommended for Abichandi's temporary freedom.
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