By Sarah Schulz
sarah.schulz@theindependent

Farhan Hussein Abdi, 24, of 411 E. Sixth St. was charged in Hall County Court on Thursday with possession of khat with the intent to distribute.

Abdi was arrested between 3 and 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in the parking lot of the UPS delivery terminal on West Highway 30 for possession of 75 pounds of khat.

His bond was set at 10 percent of $100,000, and his preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. April 28.

Tri-City Federal Drug Task Force investigators received information that a large shipment of khat was coming into Grand Island. The package was shipped from Germany, said investigator Jeff Shelton of the Nebraska State Patrol.

Investigators were able to make a controlled delivery of the khat to three people. Abdi was the only person charged in the incident, according to a press release from the task force.

The drug has an estimated street value of $15,000 to $22,500, according to the task force and the State Patrol.

Khat is a flowering shrub native to east Africa and southern Arabia. The root of the plant, which is often chewed or made into tea, has effects similar to ephedrine. It is a stimulant hallucinogen and is in the same class as amphetamine. In 1993, the Drug Enforcement Administration banned cathinone and cathine, the main ingredients found in khat, according to the Nebraska State Patrol.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice's Web site, ingesting khat increases blood pressure and heart rate, which usually subsides between 90 minutes and three hours after use.

The use of khat is accepted within the Somali, Ethiopian and Yemeni cultures. In the United States, khat use is most prevalent among immigrants from those countries, according to the Web site.

Cathinone is present in khat leaves within 48 hours of harvest and is classified as a Schedule 1 narcotic, the most restrictive category used by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Cathine remains in the leaves after 48 hours and is classified as a Schedule 4 narcotic, according to a press release from the Tri-City Federal Drug Task Force.

The task force is composed of members from the FBI; Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Nebraska State Patrol; police departments from Grand Island, Hastings and Kearney; and sheriff's departments in Hall, Adams and Buffalo counties. The task force is funded by grants from the Byrne Memorial Fund and the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program.