On Wednesday, June 9, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officers at an express consignment hub in Memphis, Tennessee examined a package described in the paperwork by the shipper as “PLANT SUBSTRACT PREMIUM GRADE HORTI CULT." The shipment was sent from Mexico City to a residence in rural northeast Arkansas.
When the shipment arrived at the CBP exam area, it was opened and found to contain three silver bags of an unknown brown/tan plant. The shipment was tested on site by the Savannah lab and identified as N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT).
The total weight was 6.1 kilos.
DMT can be used by researchers under a schedule I research registration that requires approval from both DEA and the Food and Drug Administration. However, this shipment was most likely meant for illicit use. According to the DEA, “The intense effects and short duration of action are attractive to individuals who want the psychedelic experience but do not choose to experience the mind altering perceptions over an extended period of time as occurs with other hallucinogens, like LSD. DMT is generally smoked or consumed orally in brews like Ayahuasca.”
The shipment was turned over to Homeland Security Investigations who followed it to its intended destination, making three arrests along with seizing various other drugs.
This seizure took place within the Area Port of Memphis, which covers ports of entry throughout the state of Tennessee and falls under CBP’s New Orleans Field Office. This Field Office includes all ports in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee.
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