30 HELD ON CHARGES OF SMUGGLING EAST AFRICAN STIMULANT TO U.S.

The narcotic shrub is widely known as khat, and a kilogram of the
highest quality crop costs about $10 in Ethiopia. But here, where the
stimulant is illegal, the markup is considerable: It brings as much as
$900 a kilo.

Yesterday, law enforcement authorities arrested 30 members of what
officials called the largest khat distribution network in the United
States, an organization that they say smuggled up to 25 tons of the
plant, earning up to $10 million a year by selling the drug in cities
like San Diego, Minneapolis and New York.

Bringing the plant - which must be kept fresh - to the United States
was no small feat for the traffickers, the authorities said. They
transported it from East Africa in suitcases with couriers or sent it
in express-mail pouches and sold it in the United States to immigrants
who were used to buying it in places like Yemen and Somalia for pennies.

The buyers were mostly from countries where khat is legal and a
central part of social life, the authorities said. And while officials
said that they had seen few new users trying the drug, they stressed
that acting against the traffickers would forestall an increase in
popularity here.

"We hope that khat never becomes a mainstream drug of choice," said
John P. Gilbride, the special agent in charge of the federal Drug
Enforcement Agency's New York office. He said the traffickers often
shipped the drug through European countries where it is legal,
including England.

Khat, a word whose pronunciation varies by country, contains
cathinone, an addictive stimulant that health officials say is
associated with side effects like depression, heart disease and
hallucinations.

Users of the drug often chew its softest leaves or the stalks, which
produces a mild euphoria but also a bitter taste that is usually
washed down with a beverage. Or the leaves can be dried and added to
tea or sprinkled on food.

In Yemen, daily commerce pauses for hours in the afternoon, when
bundles of the plant arrive in the markets.

The 30 suspects arrested yesterday were among 44 indicted in the case,
according to the United States attorney's office in Manhattan. The
others are still at large.

New York was the distribution hub, Mr. Gilbride said. One of the
traffickers, Osman Osman, worked in the mailroom at the United Nations
and twice smuggled the plants in a diplomatic pouch, officials said.