Ten Israelis were apprehended by French police in the past month on charges of illegally bringing the stimulant khat plant into France. Ten other Israelis are also in custody in various European countries, Ynet reports.
The Israelis will be spending Rosh Hashanah in jail as a result.
Contrary to reports, most of those arrested are not yeshiva bochurim.
Khat is a plant which is a stimulant and said to cause euphoria. It contains the alkaloid cathinone, which is similar to cocaine and that renders it an illegal substance.
According to sources in the Foreign Ministry in Yerushalayim, predominantly young people from low income areas are lured into making “easy money” by smuggling the drug across borders. Most of the detainees are between the ages of 18 and 27, and some are minors.
The penalty for smuggling can be as severe as seven years in prison and many of the smugglers are unaware of the seriousness of the offence. They are enticed by a free airline ticket and some NIS3,000 in spending money.
Rabbi Shlomo Bistritzky of the Chabad House in Hamburg said he heard from Israelis in custody that those who hired them for the job told them that the worst that would happen is that the plants would be confiscated. The young smugglers are promised that they would be met immediately upon arrival, but when customs officers detained them, there were no local contacts to be found. The youngsters were also cautioned not to contact the Foreign Ministry if they get into trouble.
Bistritzky says that those behind the illegal operation were based in London. A few were initially taken into custody but were released as the incriminating cathinone evaporates after a while and there was no evidence with which to charge them. Those arrested in Hamburg were kept for long periods of time in jail while some of the confiscated plants – frozen to ensure all traces of their alkaloids remained – were being examined by authorities. Read more at Ynet.
{Matzav.com Israel}
If the worst that could be is that the plants may get confiscated, doesn’t that tell the courier that he is doing something illegal?
If you bring any plant, fruit or vegetable, cheese or meat (pretty much any food); it could be confiscated if they find it at customs at most international airports, from overseas counties. Certain items are outright prohibited, some are allowed if its commercially sealed.
The question that must be asked first by any of these travelers, “Why are they giving me a free vacation to take this stuff, why not do it themselves?” but כִּי הַשֹּׁחַד יְעַוֵּר פִּקְחִים