FARGO - Police here seized about 15 pounds of the illegal drug khat and arrested a 29-year-old man who allegedly had the plant shipped to a north Fargo apartment Saturday.
Mohamed Suleiman Mohamud, whose address is unknown, was arrested on suspicion of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and taken to the Cass County Jail.
According to Sgt. Mark Lykken:
On Sept. 18, Mohamud asked an apartment tenant in the 300 block of 19th Street North if he could have a package shipped there in a week.
The tenant agreed, but when the package arrived midday Saturday, he opened it and saw what he believed to be illegal drugs.
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He called police, who determined the package contained about 15 pounds of khat. Mohamud was arrested a short time later when he showed up to collect the package.
Khat is a flowering shrub native to northeast Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Its leaves are chewed for their stimulating effect, similar to but less intense than that of cocaine or methamphetamine.
In the United States, khat use is most prevalent among immigrants from Somalia, Ethiopia and Yemen, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
In January 2008, Fargo police seized 600 pounds of khat destined for Minneapolis. Lykken said police haven't seen a lot of khat in the Fargo area in the last year or so.
"We have seen larger amounts, but 15 pounds of any illegal drug certainly can be distributed to a lot of people, so we take that seriously," he said.
