Man imprisoned in khat case

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Thursday, November 01, 2007

Liban Moalin, convicted last year of helping import khat, an East African plant-based drug, into the U.S., was sent to prison Wednesday after his arrest this year for the same thing, only six weeks after a Dane County judge placed him on probation.

Moalin, most recently of St. Paul, Minn., was sentenced to probation in March after a jury convicted him of accepting shipments of khat at his Fitchburg apartment. But he never spent the time in jail that he was supposed to as part of his probation and was arrested again in River Falls on April 25 after accepting another khat shipment.

As a result, Moalin 's probation was revoked and Judge Diane Nicks resentenced him Wednesday, this time to a year in prison and a year of extended supervision. With credit for the time he has spent in jail since his April 25 arrest, Moalin will be out of prison in about six months but will likely be handed over to the federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation.

Khat is a plant that is grown in East Africa and is chewed as a stimulant. It may produce dependency and remains popular among immigrants of Somalia, particularly in the Minneapolis area, which has a large Somalian population.

Moalin, an Ethiopian-born Canadian citizen, was convicted by a Dane County jury in November 2006 of possession of khat with intent to deliver and sentenced in March to three years of probation, with 30 days in jail as a condition of probation. He was supposed to transfer his probation to Minnesota but never reported to a probation agent there.

On April 25, police in River Falls arrested Moalin and another man, Yasin Wagad, 24, in a church parking lot after Moalin signed for two Federal Express packages containing about 40 pounds of khat. Wagad has claimed that Moalin knew nothing about the contents of the boxes. Nicks said Wednesday she didn 't believe him.

A charge of possession with intent to deliver is still pending against Moalin in Pierce County Circuit Court. Wagad pleaded guilty in July to the same charge and was placed on three years of probation.

Moalin 's attorney, Stephen Mays, argued Wednesday that because of the ICE detainer, Moalin should be sentenced to the time he has served in jail since his arrest in April because he will only end up in ICE custody and be deported. But Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Farmer said he had no assurances that would happen and argued for prison.

Nicks said she sent Moalin to prison as punishment for his original sentence, his failure on probation, a lack of honesty and his continued violation of state drug laws.