Philadelphia CBP officers intercept six more dangerous ketamine smuggling attempts from Europe

PHILADELPHIA, Dec 29 – U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers intercepted six separate ketamine smuggling attempts in Philadelphia, most recently on Dec. 11, that shipped from Europe to addresses in the United States.

Ketamine hydrochloride is a Schedule III non-narcotic compound regulated under the Controlled Substances Act. It is a dangerous anesthetic commonly known on the street as “Special K,” “Donkey Dust,” and “Cat Killer,” and is smoked, snorted, or mixed in beverages, or cut with other dangerous drugs. Overdoses can lead to serious health threats, such as nausea, elevated heart rate, unconsciousness, convulsions, and respiratory failure.

Ketamine is used lawfully by medical professionals to treat human and animal patients. However, ketamine is used illegally by street addicts and recreational users as a hallucinogen, similar to phencyclidine (PCP). Sexual predators also use ketamine to incapacitate their victims.

Each of the six shipments, which arrived between Sept. 23 through Dec. 11, were manifested as something different. Four shipments arrived from the United Kingdom, one from France, and one from The Netherlands. Four shipments were destined for Florida and two to Connecticut.

CBP officers inspected the shipments and discovered a white, crystalline substance concealed inside objects such as a punching bag base, plastic cleaning solvent bottles, plastic shell cases, and vacuum-sealed bags.

Officers used a handheld elemental isotope analysis tool to test samples of each of the substances and confirmed the samples to be ketamine hydrochloride.

Officers did not extract the ketamine from the punching bag bases due to officer safety concerns. The six ketamine shipments and concealment objects weighed a combined 160 pounds.

“Customs and Border Protection officers vigilantly safeguard our communities from the scourge of dangerous drugs, such as this ketamine, which has been used by sexual predators to assault victims,” said Cleatus P. Hunt, Jr., Area Port Director for CBP’s Area Port of Philadelphia. “CBP officers remain committed to disrupting drug smuggling attempts and working with our law enforcement partners to hold drug trafficking organizations accountable.”

CBP officers continue to seize ketamine. From late-June through September, Philadelphia CBP officers seized 57 pounds of ketamine and another 72 pounds of Ketamine, all destined to South Florida, and three smaller parcels of ketamine destined to addresses in Seattle, Las Vegas, and Wayne, Michigan.

CBP officers and agents seized an average of 1,571 pounds of drugs, including 78 pounds of fentanyl, every day at our nation’s air, sea, and land ports of entry. See what else CBP accomplished during “A Typical Day” in 2024, and view CBP enforcement stats and summaries.

CBP’s border security mission is led at our nation’s Ports of Entry by CBP officers and agriculture specialists from the Office of Field Operations. CBP screens international travelers and cargo and searches for illicit narcotics, unreported currency, weapons, counterfeit consumer goods, prohibited agriculture, invasive weeds and pests, and other illicit products that could potentially harm the American public, U.S. businesses, and our nation’s safety and economic vitality.