The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Ketamine seized from suspected carrier at BIA

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Friday, Jul 03, 2009
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Ketamine seized from suspected carrier at BIA

Staff Reporter

— Photo: K. Gopinathan

In the net: Khayum Khan, who was caught by custom officials at BIA for allegedly carrying ketamine, in Bangalore on Thursday.

Bangalore: Immigration officials at the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) seized Rs. 1 crore worth ketamine hydrochloride, a veterinary anaesthetic, which is an essential raw material in preparing contraband drugs, from a Chennai man in the late hours of Wednesday.

The accused, Khayum Khan alias Khayum Gafur Khan (50), a resident of B.V. Colony in Chennai, was arrested and sent to judicial custody for allegedly attempting to carry around 10 kg ketamine to Jakarta. The police have confiscated his passport, visa, air ticket and other documents from him.

The accused, suspected to be a professional drug carrier, had concealed the banned substance in a water geyser. He had planned to fly Jakarta in a Thai Airways flight at 12.45 a.m. He had also booked the return ticket on the same flight for July 4.

Suspicious over such a short itinerary, immigration officials intercepted Khayum before he could board the flight. A thorough search of his baggage revealed the white, sugar-like substance wrapped in polythene bag and stuffed into the water heater, a BIA official told The Hindu.

During interrogation, the accused admitted that the substance was ketamine hydrochloride, the officer said. He is learnt to have told immigration officials he was given Rs. 5,000 and the flight ticket to deliver the substance to a drug peddler in Jakarta.

Khayum had arrived in the city by car from Chennai. We arrested the accused and handed over him to Customs Officer Sundar Raman, the official said.

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