44 Arrested in 6 States in Suspected Drug Ring

Authorities in six states arrested 44 suspected members of an international drug ring that smuggled more than 25 tons of the stimulant khat worth more than $10 million from Africa to U.S. cities.

The arrests resulted from what authorities called the largest investigation of khat trafficking in U.S. history and coincided with fears the drug was growing in U.S. popularity and becoming a source of funding for Somali warlords. The smugglers used New York as a distribution hub.

Khat is a shrub typically grown in Ethiopia and Kenya and commonly chewed by people throughout the Middle East. The U.S. considers it a highly addictive hallucinogen.