Authorities have uncovered an alleged khat trafficking operation, with two women targeted in an investigation after 134kg of the leaves were intercepted on their way from Ethiopia to Australia.
In apparent first for Taiwan, officials at the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) yesterday said that a woman surnamed Ho (何) and her daughter, surnamed Cheng (鄭), were released after posting bail of NT$200,000 after courier packages were traced to Ho’s residence in Tainan.
The two women were barred from leaving the country.
Khat, also known as qat, Arabian tea, or Ethiopian tea, comes from the leaves of Catha edulis, a flowering plant native to the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
They are chewed as a stimulant and are said to boost energy and suppress hunger. The WHO classifies khat as an abused drug that can produce psychological dependence.
“We found that packages of khat were being sent from Ethiopia to Taiwan,” CIB No. 3 Investigation Unit Deputy Captain Wang Chih-hung (王志宏) said. “The suspects repackaged the leaves to make them look like Taiwanese tea and then shipped them to Australia.”
“After tracking the packages to an address in Tainan, we raided Ho’s residence and found 134kg of the product,” Wang said. “She admitted to having mailed similar packages to Australia, for which she earned A$50 [US$38] per kilogram.”
In Australia, 134kg of the leaves could be sold for about A$10 million, investigators said.
“She made successful deliveries in October, November and December last year, earning about A$3,000, or about NT$70,000, in commissions,” Wang said.
Bureau officials said they were alerted to the alleged khat smuggling by Chinese authorities, as the packages from Ethiopia went through a courier transfer depot in Beijing.
The packages were labeled as plant material for making dye, but were found to contain khat at the Beijing depot, Wang said.
The plant is classified as an illegal drug in Taiwan and China.
Investigators said that Cheng is also a suspect and persuaded her to return home from Australia, where she works as a cosmetics saleswoman at a department store.
Cheng returned to Taiwan on Thursday and was arrested at the airport and taken in for questioning.
Police said that she admitted to a role in the operation, but said she was tricked into it by her former boyfriend, who she met in Australia, a Somalian man who has New Zealand residency.
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