Greek Police Arrest Briton for Khat Trafficking

The suspect told police he had been paid by a group of Africans in London to carry the drug to their associates in Greece.

Greek police have arrested a British man on suspicion of trying to smuggle 16.8 kg (36.9 lb) of the narcotic leaf khat into the country, police said on Tuesday.

The 39-year-old British man was arrested at Athens airport while trying to pick up a suitcase containing the mildly narcotic stimulant after flying there from London.

"He was very nervous and that drew officers' attention, who searched him and found the khat," said the police official, who declined to be named.

The suspect told police he had been paid by a group of Africans in London to carry the drug to their associates in Greece.

Greek police said they had confiscated 180 kg of khat smuggled from Britain and Latin American countries and had arrested 14 suspected traffickers since the start of the year, an increase on previous years.

Khat is typically grown in East Africa and Yemen, where it is known as Qat. Banned in many Western nations but legal in Somalia and neighbouring nations, the leaf gives the chewer a mild amphetamine-like high.

Greece has seen a rise in East African immigrants in recent years.