By  Rosie Taylor
Mail online

The government may have announced this week  it will ban khat, but in recent years shipments of the herbal stimulant have  poured into the UK from Africa.

Celeste Hibbert documented Kenyan workers –  who depend on UK sales for their welfare – wrapping up the plant into banana  leaves and packing it into boxes

From just one packing depot in Eastleigh,  Nairobi, 2,500 boxes of khat are flown to the UK four times a week.

Khat, also known as cathonine, is  popular in  parts of the Middle East and Africa, where users chew the  leaf to release  stimulants that produce an  amphetamine-like high.

It has been banned in the US and most EU  states, with British Home Secretary Theresa May announcing this week she would  enforce a UK ban on khat – despite advice against the move by an official advisory body.

Khat ‘houses’ in Britain have been linked to  terrorism, with police targeting those in Woolwich amid fears they are  recruiting grounds for Islamic extremists.

Mrs May’s proposed ban means khat will be  treated as a class C drug, like anabolic steroids and ketamine.

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Source: Daily mail.