Saturday, September 16, 2006
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Three Somali men have been charged with possessing 13 pounds of khat, a leafy stimulant commonly chewed in parts of the horn of Africa and the Arabian peninsula, but which is illegal in the United States, prosecutors said Friday.
The men, Tanad Sheekh, 43, Ali Farah, 35, and Abdiwelid Hoosh, 30, were arrested Wednesday afternoon after Hoosh picked up a UPS package containing a khat shipment worth about $5,400, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. Sheekh is from Manhattan, while Hoosh is from Kansas City, Mo., and Farah is from Colombus, Ohio.
The shipment came from England, where khat is legal. UPS had reported suspicions about it to the police, according to the district attorney’s office.
The men, Tanad Sheekh, 43, Ali Farah, 35, and Abdiwelid Hoosh, 30, were arrested Wednesday afternoon after Hoosh picked up a UPS package containing a khat shipment worth about $5,400, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. Sheekh is from Manhattan, while Hoosh is from Kansas City, Mo., and Farah is from Colombus, Ohio.
The shipment came from England, where khat is legal. UPS had reported suspicions about it to the police, according to the district attorney’s office.“While khat may be socially acceptable in certain foreign cultures, it is classified as a schedule-one narcotic here in the United States, which puts it in the same legal category as heroine and cocaine,” Brown said in a statement.
Khat is especially common in Yemen, Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia. It is chewed like coca leaves or tobacco and users say they experience a buzz and temporary feeling of clarity. It also can cause an elevated heart rate and blood pressure and create a feeling of euphoria.
England considered a ban on khat this year but decided against it.
The substance is illegal in the U.S. because it can contain two controlled substances: cathonine, which is found in very fresh khat leaves, or cathine, a less potent chemical that turns up once the plant dries.
Brown alleges that after picking up the package at a UPS office in Queens, Hoosh got in a car with Sheekh and Farah and that by the time police approached the car, the three defendants were already ingesting the stimulant.
The men were arraigned Thursday on charges of second-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, an offense punishable by up to eight and one-third years in prison.
They had no attorneys present at the arraignment, a spokesman for the district attorney said. No phone numbers could be found for the defendants on Friday.
Source: AP, Sept 16, 2006
