REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesian authorities' joint investigation team arrested three suspects for allegedly smuggling 68 kilograms of Khat leaves of a flowering plant native to the Horn of Africa and Arabian peninsula. The Khat leaves contain cathinone, an amphetamine-like stimulant.

Director General of Customs and Excise of the Ministry of Finance Heru Pambudi stated at a press conference here on Monday that the Khat leaves, placed in four packages, were sent from Lagos, Nigeria, through a post office in Central Jakarta.

Two packages were intended to be sent to an address in North Jakarta, while the other two to Dumai, Indonesia's Riau Province of Sumatra.

The packages arrived at the post office on Mar 16.

Officials from the Customs and National Narcotics Agency on March 23 conducted a control delivery after the consignment of illicit drugs was detected at a post office in North Jakarta. Following investigation in North Jakarta, the joint team arrested a suspect.

Meanwhile, following another control delivery on Mar 27, the authorities took into custody two other suspects in Dumai. Pambudi remarked that the Khat leaves were categorized as narcotics and their distribution is banned in Indonesia.

"It is brewed as tea. It is, of course, harmful to your health if consumed for a long period of time," Pambudi stated.

Cisarua police secured the Khat field at Kampong Pasir, Cisarua, Bogor, West Java, on Tuesday (February 5, 2015).

The authorities had conducted a string of operations some time ago to target Khat fields in Puncak, West Java Province. "We ensure that no more (Khat) is planted. Recently, we also raided those planted in Cisarua," Pambudi added.

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