A Chinese national, suspected of being at the heart of international trafficking in ketamine to the United States, was arrested in Lyon after seizures of around forty kilos of this psychotropic drug, we learned this Wednesday from judicial sources.
The 27-year-old woman “was placed in pre-trial detention on September 22 while awaiting her judgment set for November 16,” indicates the public prosecutor, specifying that the operation resulted from an investigation carried out jointly by the police. Swiss and French.
Around forty kilograms of this anesthetic used in veterinary medicine, whose value is estimated at just over 1.5 million euros, were seized during several operations in France and Switzerland, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.
A drug sold on the darknet
More than seven kilograms were notably discovered at the Lyon home of the young woman who was preparing to ship them to the United States, according to the same source.
In France, 249 kg of ketamine were seized in 2018, according to the Anti-Narcotics Office (Ofast). Since then, the product has disappeared from the annual statistics. Only one seizure of 152 kg at a toll in the north of the country was recorded in October 2022.
Marginal figures compared to those for the consumption of cannabis or cocaine, even if ketamine, long confined to the world of techno parties, today affects more varied profiles.
Ketamine is sold in powder or crystals for 40 euros per gram – cheaper than cocaine (around 70 euros). Sold on the darknet, it arrives by postal freight from Southeast Asia, particularly India.