KOCHI: Giving a new dimension to drug trafficking in the city, Customs officers here on Tuesday seized 180 kg of ‘khat’ leaves, a banned narcotic substance.
The officers also detained a person in connection with the incident. According to them, the contraband, brought here as a postal parcel from Ethiopia, was seized based on a suspicion. The narcotic, kept in nine cartons, was intended to be taken to New Delhi, they said.
Khat (Catha edulis) is a shrub grown in East Africa and the Arabian peninsula and its leaves contain psychoactive ingredients like cathinone and cathine.
Though chewing khat leaves for a high is casual in some African countries, it is a banned stuff in India as WHO has categorised it as a narcotic substance, said the officers.
Preliminary investigation revealed a Kuwait-based NRI had sent the consignment to the state addressed to a person hailing from Kollam.
Though the local person was taken into custody, officers suspect his role was limited to taking delivery of the parcel and rerouting it to some agents in New Delhi.
They suspect the involvement a big racket having international links. A South African national was arrested from Kochi a year ago for attempting to smuggle 4 kg of heroin worth `7 crore and 300 g of Methamphetamine worth `1 crore through a parcel agency to various destinations in Europe and Australia, which revealed the new smuggling trend in Kochi.