On March 24, Dalian Customs announced that it discovered and seized a drug smuggling case in an inward mail, in which 7 parcels of khat (Catha edulis Forssk) weighing 60.75kg were seized and two foreign suspects were captured.
On March 1, Dalian Customs received a clue that hidden drugs would enter Dalian Customs District recently through an international mail, so the Customs immediately started 24-hour close control. At 6 am, March 4, 7 suspected packets were seized in an international mail car from Beijing. Those seized mails, without detailed contact information or the recipient's name or number, were sent from a city in Africa to a college dormitory in Dalian, thus belonging to irregular mails. Through identification, the plant leaves like tea in the parcels were drug called khat, weighing 60.75kg in total. Tracking down following relevant clues, anti-smuggling officers finally captured two foreign suspects.
Khat, also known as the East African poppy, is an evergreen shrub originating in East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. The Khat contains excitatory substance cathinone, which stimulates human's central nervous system after being chewed with easy addiction and is identified as one of the soft drugs by the World Health Organization. Now China has listed Khat, ice drug and Ketamine as Class-Ⅰ psychoactive drugs to crack down on. Growing, possessing, selling, smuggling and taking Khat are all illegal and criminal in China. Passengers are forbidden to carry or mail the drugs into China's territory.