CBP officers seize nearly 850 pounds of khat packed into 12 suitcases after flight from London

CBP pulled 847 pounds of khat out of 12 'tea' suitcases at BWI. Two U.S. citizens from New York flew London with a garden in checked bags.

Summary

Fox reports CBP officers at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport seized 847 pounds of khat from 12 suitcases on August 13.
Two U.S. citizens from New York arriving from London were sent to secondary inspection. The contents looked like tea leaves and then tested as Catha edulis.
Khat is a controlled stimulant. Nearly 850 pounds in twelve bags is not a personal habit. It is a load.
Secondary inspection is the unfashionable part of a border. This haul is why it still exists.

Commentary

A CBP officer on sore knees still opens a zipper that smells like dry leaves and airplane air. Twelve bags. Tea until it is not. Eight hundred forty-seven pounds is a number you feel in the forearms.

That is the gap. Travelers with one shampoo bottle get the liquids lecture. Two passengers with a shrubbery in checked luggage get a lab test. The officer who pulled the bags is the entire policy.

Ask every parent in that arrivals hall: if 12 suitcases of 'tea' can walk off a London flight, what else walks if secondary takes a day off?

Comments

Is a 847-pound khat haul the case for more secondary, not less?

u/border_dad · 5h

Twelve bags of tea that is not tea. That is why CBP still opens zippers.

u/midwest_vet · 4h

I have seen 'personal use' become a pallet. 847 pounds is a pallet.

u/rule_first · 4h

Controlled substance plus a commercial load is a federal case. Charge the weight.

u/tokyo_ally · 3h

Narita would not shrug at twelve trunks of stimulant leaves. Neither should BWI.

u/docket_rat · 3h

Anyone calling secondary racist can count the pounds first.

u/night_shift · 2h

I get searched for a multitool. They packed a farm. Good. Open the next bag.

u/texas_mom · 90m

Arrivals is where the country starts. Keep the dogs and the testers.

u/gulf_watch · 55m

London to Maryland is a corridor. Corridors get exploited unless someone kneels at a zipper.

u/press_clip · 30m

Fox printed 847, twelve bags, Aug. 13, BWI, two New Yorkers. Keep the inventory.

u/soc_lead · 15m

Fund secondary. Publish the weights. Do not let 'tea' become the new normal.

Paraphrased comments. Not attributed.

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