A man has been charged by NSW Police Force over the importation of ketamine, which was detected by Australian Border Force (ABF) officers in an air cargo consignment from the United Kingdom.
On Sunday, March 8, ABF officers located one kilogram of ketamine concealed within a package labelled as health supplements, pictured above.
ABF officers identified and examined the consignment, which led to a presumptive test returning positive results for ketamine.
The drugs have a total estimated potential street value of $170,000.
Following extensive inquiries, police arrested a 34-year-old man outside a home on Rosecomb Road, Spring Farm, about 10.45am yesterday.
Shortly after the arrest, investigators executed a search warrant at a home at Lakemba, where they seized steroids and other items relevant to the investigation.
The man was taken to Narellan Police Station, where he was charged with importing a marketable quantity of border-controlled drug and supplying a prohibited drug.
He was refused bail and appeared in Campbelltown Local Court yesterday, where he was formally refused bail to re-appear at the same court next Monday.
Ketamine, according to the Alcohol and Drug Foundation, is used by medical practitioners and veterinarians as an anaesthetic.
But it is also used illegally by people to get high and goes by names such as Special K, K, ket, kitkat, super k, horse tranquilliser or horse trank.
When it’s sold illegally, ketamine usually comes as a white crystalline powder. It can also be made into tablets and pills, or dissolved in a liquid.
Ketamine can produce psychedelic effects, causing a person to see, hear, smell, feel or taste things that aren’t really there or are different from how they are in reality.
