A New York man is facing felony drug charges after customs officers said they found a large amount of khat in the passenger’s luggage at Dulles International Airport in Virginia.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said 24-year-old Bakari Wally, of the Bronx, was arrested Thursday after 65 pounds of khat were found in his luggage. It has a street value of around $8,000, a news release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection said.
Wally had just come from Casablanca, Morocco, on Wednesday night, when officers found bags of “dried organic substance” in his checked baggage. They referred him to a secondary examination, and a field test was done, which identified the substance as khat.
Officers seized the khat, and Wally was turned over to Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority police.
Wally was charged with possession with the intent to distribute and transporting a controlled substance.
U.S. Customs said that there has been an increase in khat, which has amphetaminelike effect, smuggled in baggage. Officers seized more than 2,000 pounds of the substance last month at Dulles and BWI Marshall Airport.