Suitcase of Risk

Khat is a plant chewed by millions of users from Yemen to Kenya. It’s been in use for thousands of years as a stimulant that produces a state of euphoria.

It is also legal in Israel, mainly due to the state’s large populations of both Yemenite and Ethiopian Jews. And that’s where the trouble begins.

Over the last few months, dozens of chareidi youngsters have been arrested in airports across Europe for smuggling khat into England, Denmark, and France, among other countries. In almost all the cases, they are just carriers, with no real stake in the smuggling operation. These youngsters have been approached by a chareidi smuggler who offers them NIS 1,000 to 5,000 to take either a small package or an entire suitcase full of the substance. If you’re caught, the smugglers advise, most likely you’ll be sent home without a punishment. And if you make it through unnoticed, you’ll have a nice sum of money to spend for a few days in a foreign capital.

The problem is growing so acute that community leaders in the countries most affected are considering taking the drastic step of withdrawing assistance from those who have been arrested. Meanwhile, Orthodox travelers complain they are being targeted for searches by airport authorities who are on the lookout for smugglers in religious garb.