Philadelphia CBP intercepts 57 pounds of dangerous Ketamine destined to South Florida

PHILADELPHIA – U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized five shipments containing a total of 57 pounds of ketamine hydrochloride, an animal anesthetic dangerously abused by users and sexual predators, in Philadelphia recently.

According to the DEA, ketamine hydrochloride is a Schedule III non-narcotic compound regulated under the Controlled Substances Act. It is commonly known on the street as Special K, Donkey Dust, and Cat Killer, and is smoked, snorted, or mixed in beverages. It is used lawfully in both human and veterinary medicine to induce sedation, immobility, and relief from pain.

Unprescribed, ketamine is abused by users for its ability to induce dissociative sensations and hallucinations like that induced by phencyclidine (PCP). Ketamine is often cut or combined with other dangerous compounds, such as ecstasy, and abused at raves and dance clubs, and it has been used by sexual predators to incapacitate their victims during sexual assaults. Overdoses can lead to serious health threats, such as nausea, elevated heart rate, unconsciousness, convulsions, and respiratory failure.

On June 21, CBP officers inspected a parcel manifested as fishing rods being shipped from the Netherlands to Miami. Instead, CBP officers discovered a white crystalline substance inside six small plastic buckets in the parcel. The six ketamine buckets weighed 12.69 kilograms or just shy of 28 pounds.

CBP officers tested the substance using a handheld elemental isotope analysis tool and identified the substance as ketamine hydrochloride.

On Friday, CBP officers seized four shipments that arrived from Germany. Each of the parcels were manifested as containing other items, such as toys, replacement rollers, or picture frames, and were destined to separate addresses in Broward County, Fla.

Inside two of the four parcels, CBP officers discovered a total of eight vacuum-sealed bags of a white crystalline substance concealed inside boxes supposed to contain toys. In the other two parcels, CBP officers discovered a total of five vacuum-sealed bags of a white crystalline product concealed inside the backing of picture frames. Collectively, these 13 vacuum-sealed bags weighed 13.225 kilograms or 29 pounds and two ounces. These substances also tested positive for ketamine hydrochloride.

Collectively, the 57 pounds, two ounces of ketamine had a street value of about $1.5 million.

An investigation continues.

“Ketamine is a very dangerous anesthetic that can seriously harm abusers and unsuspecting victims, and so it’s an illicit drug that Customs and Border Protection officers take immense pleasure at intercepting before it can reach our communities,” said Cleatus P. Hunt, Jr., Area Port Director for CBP’s Area Port of Philadelphia. “CBP remains committed to combatting drug trafficking organizations by seizing their poisonous shipments at our nation’s ports of entry.”

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.

Learn more at www.CBP.gov.

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