Fourteen young Israelis suspected of khat-smuggling will spend their Rosh Hashanah in prisons across Europe: 7 in France, 3 in Sweden, 2 in Spain and 2 in Ireland. The Israeli citizens were caught with tens of kilograms of the drug indigenous to the Yemeni region, with the largest smuggling attempts weighing in at 91 and 82 kilograms each. A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry cautioned against attempting to smuggle khat outside of Israel, stating that it is a very serious offense in European countries that could result in several years in prison. “Unfortunately, the phenomenon keeps expanding, harming innocent citizens – some of whom belong to disenfranchised factions of Israeli society [and] are more easily tempted by khat distributors and find themselves serving extended sentences abroad,” the spokesman said.
