Drug Used To Facilitate Sexual Assaults Found In Parcel By Dulles Airport Customs Officers

DULLES, VA — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Washington Dulles International Airport got a Christmas Day surprise when they discovered a package of ketamine inside an express delivery parcel from Austria. The shipment was destined for Flushing, New York.

According to its manifest, the international parcel was described as "merchandise, writing board," but CBP officers thought it seemed unusually heavy. Opening the package, they found a white powdery substance along the side of one writing board.

A field test identified the substance as ketamine hydrochloride, a Schedule III non-narcotic drug regulated under the Controlled Substances Act. Ketamine, sometimes known as "Special K," is used as a club drug and sometimes used to facilitate sexual assaults.

CBP officers found a similar substance inside six writing boards. They seized all of the writing boards and handed them over to the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) for investigation.

“Customs and Border Protection officers are extremely skilled at detecting contraband even through the clever disguise of creative concealment methods such as these writing boards,” said Daniel Escobedo, director for CBP’s Area Port of Washington, D.C., in a release. “CBP’s narcotics interdiction mission is vital to protecting our nation’s citizens and our communities from the dangers of illicit drugs.”