News
Khat import scheme to widen curse of drug addiction
Moves are underway by the Police Narcotics Bureau to ban the import of khat, a plant with strongly narcotic properties that has already been barred in European countries.
Police Narcotic Bureau (PNB) Director, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) L.H.K.W.K. Silva said the recent detection of khat by Customs officers at Bandaranike International Airport had triggered an islandwide police investigation of production, consumption and sale of the plant.
He said samples of the plant had been sent to the government analyst for tests on its chemical properties so that the Narcotics Act could be amended and a ban imposed on khat.
Director and Spokesman of Customs G.A. Leslie Gamini said that a resident of Kochchikade who arrived from Kenya carrying 50kg of khat plant shoots had been arrested at the airport on December 30.The arrested Sri Lankan had confessed that he intended to send the package to Canada through another person at the airport. During interrogation, the 21-year-old suspect revealed that his father had sent him to Kenya to smuggle the package to Sri Lanka and they had successfully smuggled khat into Sri Lanka on four various occasions through foreigners.
The suspect was produced before the Negombo Magistrate and remanded until tomorrow (January 6) for further questioning.
“This is the first time that Customs has detected khat being brought into the country,” Mr. Gamini said.
As possession of khat is not yet deemed illegal the man’s arrest was made on the grounds of violating the Plant Quarantine Act by bringing plants without the permission of National Plant Quarantine Service (NPQS).
Now government authorities are moving to ban khat under the Narcotics Act and Customs Ordinance. Mr. Gamini added that the Plant Quarantine act will also be amended to include a ban on khat which will make it straightforward for Customs to confiscate the plant on detection.
NPQS Additional Director S.C. Wanigasuriya said the package containing the khat plants had been wrapped in banana offshoots to promote a high level of moisture percentage inside the package that would preserve the khat shoots for 48 hours.
The NPQS suspects that given the previous trafficking episodes the smugglers intended to begin cultivation of the plant in rural areas and set up a new source of drug addiction.
Mr. Gamini said the NPQS had requested assistance from the International Plant Protection Convention to conduct a broad research to create awareness in Sri Lanka about khat addiction.
He said khat (Catha edulis) is been widely used in Yemen where 85 per cent of the populationis addicted to the substance. He added that most of the European countries and United States of America have banned Khat but there are high levels of addiction to the substance in East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula apart from Saudi Arabia, where it is legal.
Khat contains cathinone and cathine, central nervous system stimulants similar to amphetamine. Chewing khat causes euphoria, ecstasy, loss of appetite and arousal. In addition, the user will be affected with irritability, depression and difficulty in sleeping as the effects subside.
Department of National Botanic Gardens Director General Dr. Siril Wijesundara said the plant has been classified as a mild drug and is not considered to be addictive as other drugs, but that it could cause oral and gastric cancer over a long period of use.
Khat addiction may also cause cerebral haemorrhage, high blood pressure, cardio diseases, abdominal diseases, genital diseases and other illnesses.