Police arrested yesterday two Pakistani nationals for selling dangerous drugs with a street value of at least P1 million inside a downton hotel.

Majid B. Khan, 30, and Chaudhry Khuram Aziz, 33, Pakistanis who are both living in Pasay City, were arrested after they sold the illegal drugs to undercover agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7).

Seized from the suspects were 90 pieces of Ketamine vials; 150 tablets of Nitrazepam inside three boxes, 540 Ativan tablets; 88 Viagra tablets, and 546 Cytotec tablets.

However, only Ketamine, Nitrazepam and Ativan are classified by the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972 as dangerous drugs. These drugs can only be bought with a prescription from the doctor.

PDEA 7 chief Jennifer Rosales said these kinds of drugs are commonly used for addiction.

Rosales said the effect of these drugs is similar to shabu.

According to the US National Institute on Drug Abuse, Ketamine or ketamine hydrochloride, or "Special K," is a powerful hallucinogen widely used as an anaesthetic or an animal tranquilizer by veterinarians.

Nitrazepam is a sedative used to treat insomnia and is a drug that can cause dependence and addiction.

Ativan is an anti-anxiety drug and is highly addictive.

Rosales said these Pakistani nationals sold these drugs usually to pushers.

PDEA 7 intelligence officer 1 Levi Valmoria said they had monitored the Pakistanis for three months until they succeeded in fielding an undercover agent who set up the transaction with the two suspects yesterday.

The transaction could have happened on Thursday but the Pakistanis flight were delayed.

On Friday, they met at a hotel in Colon. The undercover agent negotiated to buy P300,000 worth of drugs from the suspects, who asked to first see the money.

After seeing the money, the suspects left the hotel to get the items for delivery to the agent.He said the two got their supply direct from Pakistan and sold it in the different parts of the country.

He said ketamine, for example, cost P300 a vial in Manila, but in Cebu it is being sold at P1,450 a vial.

Valmoria said the two suspects had been living in Manila for quite a time and had acquired alien certificate residency from the Philippine government.

The suspects are detained at the PDEA-7 detention cell pending the filing of charges scheduled today.