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Khat: Feds Arrest 62 in Crackdown on Mild East African Stimulant Herb

Submitted by Phillip Smith on
Consequences of Prohibition
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Khat, a shrub that grows in East Africa, has been used for centuries as a mild stimulant in the region, with a high similar to that obtained by drinking a lot of tea or coffee. Khat is legal thoughout Africa and most European countries, but US federal authorities consider it a dangerous drug. They struck Wednesday, arresting 62 East African immigrants on charges they smuggled more than 25 tons of the stuff into the United States.

family khat use scene, Vietnam
Federal officials told reporters Wednesday they are investigating reports the khat smugglers may be linked to "war lords" in Somalia and Ethiopia, but they have not produced any proof of that, nor do any of the indictments allege any links to terrorist activities in the region, where Islamic extremism is on the march. Muslim fundamentalists linked to Al-Qaida are battling Western-backed "war lords" for control of Somalia.

"It is suspected that there are ties to some type of terrorist organizations," a federal agent demanding anonymity told the McClatchy Newspaper chain. While the indictments do not allege terror links, they do charge the group laundered money through hawalas, an informal network of remittances widely used in South Asia and the Middle East. Some of the money ended up in the Middle East financial capital Dubai, the indictments allege.

FBI Assistant Director Mark Mershon told a New York news conference Wednesday that the agency continues to seek "the ultimate destiny of the funds." According to Mershon, intelligence suggests the money was headed for "countries in East Africa which are a hotbed for Sunni extremism and a wellspring for terrorists associated with Al-Qaida."

Hmmm…They are also the countries from which those arrested hail and where khat is widely grown. Meanwhile, the man charged as ringleader for the group faces up to life in prison and the others face up to 20 years for using and dealing in an herb with which they grew up.

Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Comments

Anonymous (not verified)

By the time harvested khat travels from the mountains of Kenya to Nairobi; from there to Europe; and from Europe to the United States, the "cathinone" content (a Schedule I substance) is down to 36 parts per 10,000,000. This means that a person would have to chew 100 pounds of khat to get 16/100ths of a gram of cathinone, a chemical only one seventh the strength of amphetamine. The idea that people import, possess and distribute khat for its cathinone content is a myth conjured up by the Department of Homeland Security as an excuse to deport African muslims. Sid Moore

Fri, 10/20/2006 - 11:12am Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

this drug is gross
who would chew it for 3 to 5 hours??
EW

Mon, 06/02/2008 - 1:47am Permalink

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