EXCLUSIVE: Khat scam revealed as Britain is at the centre of narcotic trade
THE UK is being flooded with huge quantities of mind-bending drug khat as dealers rush to cash in before it is banned.
And users predict chaos on the streets when the stimulant – which is popular in Somali communities – is made illegal next year.
Last week we watched as 160,000 sticks of khat were delivered to a Customs-bonded warehouse run by Apex Freight in Southall, west London, after arriving on a flight from Kenya.
Dealers hurriedly transported the product to Somali cafés across the capital and beyond.
The four deliveries of khat Apex receives every week are thought to be worth around £1.9million, with each stick selling for £3 and a box of 40 costing £35.
There are believed to be several other importers in the UK in a trade estimated to be worth at least £80million a year.
Britain is now an international hub for khat after it was banned in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and the US.
Somali dealers are thought to be using white Eastern European couriers to smuggle it from Britain into continental Europe so as not to arouse the suspicion of Customs officers.
In July, Home Secretary Theresa May said she intended to make khat a Class C drug after listening to concerns that it is responsible for family breakdown and mental illness including psychosis. Last night Abukar Awale, Britain’s most active campaigner for a khat ban, told us: “This is like lastminute.com for these guys.
“Every one of them is rushing to sell as much khat as they can before the ban comes in.”
One of the men behind Apex Freight – Mahamud Ahmed Mohammed – last week filed a petition at the High Court in London, arguing Mrs May failed to take into account scientific evidence before prohibiting khat.
He claimed a ban would infringe the rights of Somalis living in the UK.
But Mr Awale said: “My concern is that, as it is legal, people think it is safe. It destroys people.” Yet for a hardcore of users the substance is deemed an important part of Somali culture.
Speaking at a Somali café in Willesden, north-west London, forklift truck driver Abdi Ahmed, 36, told us: “The majority of people chew khat and are fine – they go to work like me and provide for their family.
“If anything they should shut all the pubs.
“By banning khat they will just create more trouble. It will become as dangerous as crack cocaine. There will be much more violence and gangsters will get involved.”
He showed us a photograph on a mobile phone of a young child chewing the drug and added: “He is Yemini, he is eight years old. He is chewing. The whole family chews.”
Back in Southall, we visited an industrial estate where a Met police “safer neighbourhood” office sits unattended among three khat establishments.
One café boss told us: “The police are not bothered about khat. Some of them come in and buy it – they chew the khat as it helps them get through their night shift.”
KHAT (Catha edulis) is a flowering plant native to the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula which is chewed as a stimulant, provoking a feeling of euphoria.
It is harvested early in the morning, sorted and then wrapped in banana leaves to keep fresh ready for use.
dailystar.co.uk