[03/September/2010]
MALAYSIA, Sep. 03 (Saba)- Police nabbed a 21-year-old Yemeni for possessing 30kg of qat leaves at a taxi stand in the Malaysian town of Changlun.

Media reports have quoted police chief Datuk Syed Ismail Syed Azizan as saying following a tip-off, the youth, a private college student in Kuala Lumpur, was arrested while trying to board a taxi.

"He was carrying two bags containing 199 tins of fresh qat leaves weighing 30kg. The street value of the leaves is estimated between RM40 and RM50 per kilogramme".

"Early investigations showed that the suspect brought the plants into the country via the Malaysia-Thailand border and we believe he would have distributed them to his college mates in Kuala Lumpur," he said after launching the state-level Ops Sikap XXII at the Jitra toll plaza.

Qat is a plant known in the Middle East and East Africa for its hallucinogenic properties. The plant is illegal in Malaysia.

YA
Saba