The drug ring smuggled the Khat from Yemen, Ethiopia, and Kenya into New York and beyond, according to a 215-count indictment unsealed Friday in Brooklyn by the state's Attorney General. (photo DEA)
BY OREN YANIV
17 members of an international drug ring were busted for smuggling tons of Khat into America, authorities announced Friday.
Seventeen members of the alleged drug ring that brought tons of the euphoria-inducing plant from Yemen, Kenya and Ethiopia to the city and beyond were charged in a 215-count indictment unsealed in Brooklyn by the state’s Attorney General office.
Khat’s leaves and stems are chewed in their fresh form and contains an amphetamine-like stimulant. It’s legal in many parts of the world, including Kenya and Ethiopia were it’s primarily cultivated, and has been used socially in Yemen for thousands of years.
But Khat is illegal in the United States and most other western countries, earning that designation in the United Kingdom this Tuesday.
Read more at NY Daily News.
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