Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has intercepted thousands of pounds of khat at U.S. airports over just the last month — with much of it coming with smugglers on passenger planes.
“Our officers do an outstanding job stopping shipments like these,” Michael Pfeiffer, the acting director of operations at CBP’s Chicago Field Office, said last week after the seizure of almost 1,200 pounds of khat that reportedly arrived at O’Hare International Airport with three travelers from Senegal.
“Criminals keep trying different ways to sneak their contraband into the United States and our officers do a better job of finding it and pursuing prosecutorial options,” Pfeiffer added.
In addition to the interceptions at O’Hare, CBP officials at Baltimore Washington International seized a total of just under 1,260 pounds of khat in mid-August, much of which was found in suitcases belonging to two New York men who arrived from London. Large quantities of khat were also seized at nearby Washington Dulles International Airport this month, first after a New Yorker arriving from Paris attempted to smuggle in 367 pounds, and later when two men from Georgia and New York were found with a total of 764 pounds after arriving from Casablanca and Paris, respectively.
While some (not all) CBP offices say they’re seeing an uptick in khat smugglers attempting to bring their contraband by passenger plane, the illegal trafficking of khat into the U.S. — usually in cargo shipments — is not a new phenomenon.
Khat, pronounced like “cot,” is the name for a shrub (Catha edulis) usually grown in parts of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, but it’s also the common name for the leaves the shrub produces, which can be chewed for their stimulant-like properties. Khat users often store the leaves in their cheeks, kind of like tobacco, and chew to release its main active stimulant, an alkaloid known as cathinone. Cathinone is chemically similar to amphetamines and produces “excitement, loss of appetite, and euphoria,” a review published in the Qatar Medical Journal explains. Researchers say, however, that the stimulant effects produced by khat are significantly milder than amphetamines.
Because of its cathinone content, khat categorized as a Schedule I drug in the United States, meaning it has “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse,” according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Khat users may also experience “grandiose delusions, paranoia, nightmares, hallucinations, and hyperactivity,” the agency says, as well as potential long-term effects of liver damage, suicidal depression, heart complications and violent tendencies, among others.
Despite this, its use is not regulated in parts of the world, especially in places where it’s cultivated for social use. Yemen, for example, uses a significant amount of its water supply (some estimates say has high as 40%) which is legal and widely consumed for recreational purposes.
Being a lucrative crop, its also among the substances often trafficked into the United States. The street value of the 1,172 pounds seized in Chicago this month was said to be worth more than $140,000, or around $120 per pound, according to CBP’s news release.
Government records show it’s regularly seized at customs and border stops, with officers intercepting around 19,000 pounds so far in 2026. (Of the last several years, CBP officers seized the most khat in 2023, at 70,044 pounds.)
A CBP spokesperson, in a statement to Nexstar, said the agency has “consistently interdicted its illegal importation for decades.”
“It is not a new trend; rather, it remains a persistent enforcement focus as officers continue to intercept shipments and travelers attempting to smuggle this stimulant into the U.S.,” the CBP said.
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