Philadelphia Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers seized two shipments of ketamine at the Philadelphia International Airport on Sept. 30 and Oct. 2, bringing in a whopping 36 pounds of the drug.
The drugs were concealed in picture frames in two separate shipments that arrived on express air delivery, according to Patch.
Each shipment had six picture frames, all which arrived from The Netherlands and were headed for Hartford, Connecticut, per the same report.
#Philadelphia @CBP seized two shipments of ketamine concealed inside the corrugated backing of picture frames destined to an address in #Connecticut. Hartford @ICEgov special agents arrested one subject. Ketamine has been used as a date rape drug. Read https://t.co/m3DkDQWUih pic.twitter.com/J2ULZGQHxG
— CBP Mid-Atlantic (@CBPMidAtlantic) October 8, 2020
Philadelphia Customs officers and Customs officers in Chicago found a white substance hidden in the plastic backing of the frames, and used a chemical analyze to identify the substance as ketamine. (RELATED: 179 Arrested, $6.5 Million Seized In Worldwide Darknet Opioid Trafficking Crackdown)
CBP turned the frames and drugs over to Homeland Security Investigations, according to ABC6.
Homeland Security special agents arrested a man in Hartford in connection to the drugs, per the same report.
Ketamine is a hallucinatory drug that can distort sights and sounds and induce flashbacks, hallucinations and feelings of calmness and relaxation, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The DEA says it is “sometimes used to facilitate sexual assault crimes” due to its short-acting anesthetic and hallucinogenic effects.
“Secreting dangerous drugs within picture frames is not a new concealment method; however, Customs and Border Protection officers must still effort to detect and intercept it,” Casey Durst, Director of Field Operations for CBP’s Baltimore Field Office, said in a statement from CBP. “CBP officers across the country often partner during illicit narcotics interceptions because we are all singularly focused on one very important mission – protecting our nation’s citizens from dangerous drugs.”