Chinese police have uncovered their largest ever case of
international ketamine smuggling, seizing 1,010 kilograms of the
illegal drug and 80,000 yuan (US$9,864)?in illicit funds, and
detaining six suspects on September 19, the Ministry of Public
Security said yesterday.
Police in Shandong
and Guangdong
provinces and Hong
Kong were coordinated by the ministry for the operation, Liu
Yuejin, deputy director of the ministry's Anti-narcotics Bureau,
told a press conference in Beijing.
Guangdong police received information in July that an
international gang planned to smuggle more than one ton of ketamine
from India to the Chinese mainland.
It was hidden in 700 barrels of chemical material and
transported from Mumbai (also known as Bombay) to Yantai in
Shandong via Singapore and South Korea. The smugglers reportedly
planned to transport the drug to Guangdong for sale.
The drug arrived at Yantai on September 10 and police struck
nine days later as the smugglers began distribution.
Three suspects confessed that they aimed to open a new channel
for smuggling drugs via Yantai.
One of the major suspects, Kung Ka Sam, a Canadian, remains at
large and the ministry is contacting Interpol to issue an order to
arrest him, said Liu.
He said drug traffickers used to smuggle drugs from overseas to
the mainland via Guangdong and Fujian
in south and east China, or the southwestern province of Yunnan,
said Liu, but since police had cracked down there, they sought new
channels in the north of the country.
"Chinese police dare not relax supervision and management at all
ports, and will not give a chance to the drug smugglers," Liu
added.
Ketamine is a powerful anesthetic that has been used for both
humans and animals. It can change people's perceptions and cause
hallucinations, and carries serious risks, especially when combined
with alcohol or other drugs.
?
(Xinhua News Agency October 13, 2005)