MIAMI POLICE MAKE LARGEST 'SPECIAL K' BUST

MIAMI (AP) - Police seized more than 11,000 vials of a designer drug likely
intended for teen-age rave parties in the largest U.S. seizure of ketamine,
known on the street as "Special K".

Officals estimated the potential value of the drugs seized Friday at $4 million.

The drugs were discovered after officers pulled over a truck for a traffic
violation, according to police. The driver matched the description of a
suspect in the ketamine ring, authorities said.

Officers found 2,162 vials of ketamine in boxes in the back. The driver,
Geraldo Baptista, led them to a warehouse with thousands more, authorities said.

Baptista, 37, was arrested Friday and charged with drug posession and
distribution, a felony that carries up to twenty years in prison.

Ketamine is manufactured in the United States as a clear liquid used
primarily by veterinarians as an animal anesthesia. Boiled into a powder, it
can be snorted, swallowed in pill form or added to drinks for a
hallucinogenic high.

It also can cause permanent brain damage in humans, slow the heart rate to
the point of death, and cause a stupor-like condition that has led to
ketamine being labeled a "date-rape" drug.

"This drug is very common at rave parties ... where you find the 15-,
16-year-old kids taking these types of narcotics," Miami-Dade Police Sgt.
Juan Perez said.