Mounties collar alleged khat trafficker

Richmond News
Wednesday, April 16, 2014

khat
An Albertan man was found carrying this suitcase of khat near YVR.

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Albertan found carrying suitcase of illegal tobacco-like drug, most popular in countries such as Somalia and Ethiopia

Richmond Mounties have arrested a 46-year-old Alberta man for allegedly trafficking 17 kilos of illegal drug catha edulis (commonly known as khat).

Liban Moalin is now facing drug trafficking charges after Richmond RCMP officers, assigned to the airport crime unit (ACU), arrested him last week as he left a Sea Island shipping company with a package.

Khat is a flowering evergreen plant that’s prohibited under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and requires a medical certificate for someone to use it.

Police believe Moalin transferred the contents of the package into a suitcase prior to the arrest.

The officers, who had been tipped off about the suspicious package by Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), were able to make the arrest, in part, due to previous investigations by Vancouver Police Department detectives.

Moalin was released following his first court appearance and is due to appear in court again later in April.
Drug trafficking affects every community in the Lower Mainland and the Richmond RCMP are committed to working with our investigative and enforcement partners to address this issue,” said Const Veronica Fox, of the Richmond RCMP.

If anyone has any additional information regarding this investigation, they should call Richmond RCMP on 604-278-1212 and quote file number 2014-9430.

* Khat is a flowering plant native to the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Among communities from these areas, khat-chewing has a history as a social custom dating back thousands of years. Khat contains a monoamine alkaloid called cathinone, an amphetamine-like stimulant, which is said to cause excitement, loss of appetite, and euphoria. It’s a controlled substance in some countries, such as the United States, Canada and Germany, while its production, sale and consumption are legal in other nations, including Djibouti, Somalia, Ethiopia and Yemen.

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