Sunday, August 21, 2016
Edith Brady-Lunny
Police display 17 packages of khat, a plant imported from East Africa and the Middle East as an illegal stimulant seized in June 2015 after state police stopped a minivan on Interstate 55 near Normal and arrested the two Minneosta men inside.
BLOOMINGTON — In the first case of its kind in McLean County, two men have been convicted in connection with the trafficking of 150 pounds of khat, a plant material containing cathinone, a stimulant that is legal in some countries but a controlled substance in the U.S.
Awil Aden, 28, and Mohamed O. Samantar, 61, both of Minneapolis, Minn., were stopped by Illinois State Police in June 2015 on suspicion of improper lane usage on Interstate 55 near the Interstate 39 interchange. Trooper Ryan Albin asked to search the rented Toyota minivan driven by Aden after he detected an odor of what he suspected was from drugs.
Inside the vehicle were 17 cardboard boxes and a trash bag filled with what was later determined in lab testing to be khat, a plant grown in parts of East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
The men are natives of Somalia, where the drug is popular with men, who mix the leaves with tea.
Police also seized $2,950 in cash from Samantar's suitcase and another $340 from his shirt pocket.
Police said the men were returning to Minnesota from Georgia where they had picked up $30,000 worth of khat for four people. The drugs carried a street value of about $81,000, according to police estimates.
Samantar was convicted in a stipulated bench trial Tuesday of controlled substance trafficking and delivery of a controlled substance. He faces 12 to 60 years in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 30, and he would have to serve 75 percent of the sentence.
Speaking through an interpreter, Aden pleaded guilty Friday to possession of a controlled substance. His open plea includes a $30,000 street value fine in his sentence, but other terms, including whether he will receive probation, up to 180 days in jail or between four and 15 years in prison, will be determined by a judge at his Sept. 30 sentencing hearing.
Assistant State's Attorney Erika Reynolds said the successful prosecution of McLean County's first khat case was due in large part to sharp observations by the state trooper and cooperation of the state crime lab in Morton where the substance was quickly tested.
"Khat has affects similar to amphetamines," said Reynolds, who learned about the drug and its origins as part of her research in handling the state's case against the two men.