DRI busts drugs racket
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has busted a racket in Kerala’s Tiruvanatapuram airport in the smuggling of ketamine hydrochloride, an anaesthetic often abused by youth as a party drug. The drugs valued at 4 Crores were seized from the baggage submitted for security and Customs check in the name of one Jinnah who was arrested.
The drug, often used as an anaesthetic, is easily available in India. Ketamine is a "unique drug" and has hypnotic (sleep producing), analgesic (pain relieving) and amnesic (short term memory loss) effects - no other drug used in clinical practice combines these three important features. It was first used clinically in 1970, and because of these combined effects it was thought that it might be the perfect anaesthetic agent. This is not quite the case, but its continued use in all parts of the world demonstrates that for certain situations, when used appropriately, it is a very valuable drug.
Though abuse of ketamine has been rare in India, there are reports that the abuse of ketamine along with another chemical known as "ecstasy" is on the increase among the urban middle class in some parts of the country. The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in India does not cover Ketamine. So the DRI has booked Jinnah on the charge of violating the Customs Act.