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Customs agents in Louisville seize ketamine worth $100K in makeup shipment

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Louisville, Kentucky, intercepted a shipment containing 15 pounds of illegal ketamine Wednesday with an estimated street value of $100,000.

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According to a news release, the shipment originated from a German residence and was manifested as professional makeup.

CBP officers in the Louisville facility opened the shipment – en route to a Queenstown, New Zealand, residence – and found six plastic bottles labeled as Kryolan containing a white substance that later tested positive for the anesthetic.

Although ketamine has legitimate medical uses, the substance can be abused for its hallucinogenic and seducing properties, the agency stated, noting that the drug “distorts perceptions, causes temporary paralysis, and dangerously slows breathing, potentially shutting down body systems and leading to cardiac arrest or respiratory failure.”

The Schedule III non-narcotic drug is regulated under the Controlled Substances Act, the news release stated.

“The experience and skills of our CBP officers to be able to target and seize this parcel is possibly life-saving,” LaFonda D. Sutton-Burke, the agency’s director of field operations in Chicago, stated.

“Our officers and specialists have exceptional training to recognize and intercept a vast array of potentially dangerous or illegal products and remove these dangers from the e-commerce supply chain,” Sutton-Burke added.