Rs1.5 crore worth ketamine seized from air passenger

A Singapore-bound passenger was today arrested at the airport in Coimbatore for attempting to smuggle 14.5kg of ketamine, a misused anaesthetic, to Thailand, police said.

Customs and immigration officials seized the drug, concealed in cloth bags, during baggage checking of Selvamani, a native of Chennai.

The drug, valued at Rs1.5 crore in the international market, was meant to be delivered in Thailand where the substance has a good market, they said.

Ketamine is usually used as a legal anaesthetic but can be illegally synthesised to produce recreational drugs.