RALEIGH – Police have charged a 51-year-old man with selling “khat,” an illegal and obscure drug, from the back room of a convenience store where he worked.
The practice of chewing khat leaves dates back thousands of years in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. But in America, the drug was classified as a controlled substance by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in 1993.
Khat sales are not unheard of in North Carolina. Agents with the N.C. Alcohol Law Enforcement last year made arrests at four ABC-licensed outlets in Wake, Wayne, Franklin and Hoke counties, according to Patty McQuillan, a spokeswoman with the state Department of Public Safety. McQuillan said ALE agents have seen an increase of khat cases over the past decade, but the agency doesn’t track khat arrests.
Police say Berhanu Gezahegn Maru was selling khat from Central Mini Mart in the 1300 block of Oakwood Avenue, across the street from St. Augustine’s University. Detectives seized more than seven pounds of khat leaves, according to search warrants made public this week.
Maru is being held in the Wake County jail in lieu of $125,000 bail. He is a native of Ethiopia, and federal authorities have placed an immigration hold on him because they think he may be in the country illegally, according to arrest records.
Police have accused Maru of manufacturing and selling khat (pronounced “cot”), a flowering shrub native to northeast Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. The plant contains cathinone, a psychoactive stimulant that can cause psychological addiction. The chewing of khat leaves releases chemicals that are related to amphetamines, which give the chewer a mild high that’s akin to drinking strong coffee, according to the World Health Organization
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