Half a tonne Ethiopian drug-like substance ‘Khat’ seized in Dhaka, Chattogram

After several consignments were seized in Dhaka, customs officials in Chattogram have revealed the seizure of 208 kilograms Ethiopian drug-like substance called ‘Khat’.

The officials in the port city seized the ‘Khat’, which came to Bangladesh on Aug 30 by post as ‘green tea’, following a tip-off on Sept 6.

They revealed the information on Thursday after physical tests of the substance, Chattogram Customs Commissioner AKM Nuruzzaman said.  

The consignments were sent to two addresses in the city and Feni, but those were found fake, Nuruzzaman said. 

Earlier in the day in the capital, police seized 330kg ‘Khat’ and arrested two people during a raid on a house at Uttara.

The arrestees are Md Nazmul Islam Talukder, 39, from Shariatpur and Md Mahbubur Rahman Palash, 51, from Pabna, according to Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s mouthpiece DMP News.

The haul was kept in the house on road no. 1 at sector 14 in the area to be sent and sold abroad at high prices, DMP News said.   

New in Bangladesh

The Department of Narcotics Control seized ‘Khat’, a new psychoactive substance or NPS, for the first time in Bangladesh from the Shahjalal International Airport and a firm at Shantinagar in Dhaka on Aug 31.  

The seized NPS, which look much like green tea leafs, have been common in Africa for a long time and are recently being used in many countries as alternatives to drugs like heroin or methamphetamine, according to officials.

The NPS can be consumed directly or with water, DNC chemical examiner Abu Hasan told bdnews24.com.

“These are new in Bangladesh, but spreading fast in Europe and America,” he said.

These types of NPS contain ‘Cathinone’ with similar effects of methamphetamine or yaba like stimulating sex or keeping the user awake, Hasan said.

“But these NPS can create serious health risk,” he added.

Side effects of NPS range from seizures to agitation, aggression, acute psychosis as well as potential development of dependence, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Since NPS are not controlled under the International Drug Control Conventions, their legal status can differ widely from country to country.

Up to 2017, over 60 countries have implemented legal responses to control NPS, with many countries having used or amended existing legislation and others having used innovative legal instruments, the UNODC says.