Updated at 10:45pm

OVER €3,000 EURO worth of khat – a plant with amphetamine-like effects – has been seized in Co Clare.

The seizure was made by gardaí and officers from the Revenue’s Customs service on Wednesday in Ennis.

18 kilos of dried khat with an estimated street value of €3,600 was uncovered in the operation.

A 30-year-old Ethiopian man has been arrested and detained under drug trafficking legislation at Ennis Garda Station.

The bitter leaf, also found in Kenya, Ethiopia and surrounding countries, has become more widely-known in recent years. Somali pirates were particularly fond of it (you may remembers the characters in the movie Captain Philips arguing over the drug).

Here’s how it’s described on awareness website Drugs.ie:

“Khat is a stimulant (‘upper’) with similar effects to amphetamine. It comes from a leafy green plant of the same name. The fresher the leaves, the stronger the effect. You chew the leaf over a number of hours.”

Cigarettes seized

Elsewhere, Revenue officers in Cork seized 130,000 cigarettes with a retail value of €67,000 in Cork City today.

The ‘NZ Slims’ cigarettes, which had arrived from Poland, were seized at a commercial premises and were concealed in mannequins, similar to two previous seizures earlier this week.

First published at 4:38pm

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