Pubdate: Sat, 11 September 1999 Source: San Luis Obispo County Tribune (CA) Copyright: 1999 San Luis Obispo County Newspapers Contact: P.O. Box 112, San Luis Obispo, CA 93406-0112 Website: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/ Author: Associated Press 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. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D