Federal officers seized 65 pounds of khat from a New York man's luggage at Dulles International Airport. The arrest is the latest in a smuggling surge that produced roughly 2,400 pounds of khat seizures at Dulles and BWI in August, as first reported by WTOP.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said officers discovered bags of a dried substance in the checked baggage of Bakari Wally, 24, of the Bronx, after he arrived on a flight from Casablanca, Morocco, on the night of Wednesday, Sept. 23. Officers referred Wally to a secondary examination, and field tests identified the substance as khat, a plant classified as a controlled substance in the United States.

The seized khat weighed 29.6 kilograms and had an estimated street value of about $8,000, according to a CBP press release. Officers turned Wally over to Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) Police, who arrested him the morning of Sept. 25.

MWAA Police charged Wally with two felonies: possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and introduction of a controlled substance into Virginia.

Khat, also known as Catha edulis, is grown in East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Users chew the leaves or brew dried leaves into a stimulant tea. The Drug Enforcement Administration says khat contains cathinone, a Schedule I controlled substance, and cathine, a Schedule IV substance.

A pattern at Dulles

Wally's arrest is the latest in a string of khat seizures at the airport. On Aug. 20, CBP officers seized a combined 764 pounds of khat from two men who arrived separately, one from Casablanca and one from Paris, each carrying seven checked bags and one carry-on. Dorian Lamin Cham, 33, of Woodstock, Georgia, and Dama Jawara, 33, of the Bronx, were each charged with felony possession with intent to distribute. That haul had an estimated street value of $90,000.

Six days earlier, on Aug. 14, officers found 368 pounds of khat in eight checked suitcases belonging to Mohamed Diawara, 25, also of the Bronx. He arrived from Paris. That seizure was valued at about $44,000, Patch reported.

CBP also seized 412 pounds and 847 pounds of khat in separate incidents at Baltimore/Washington International Airport in August.

Nationally, CBP officers and agents seized about 46,000 pounds of khat during the fiscal year that ended in September 2025. They seized more than 30,000 pounds during the first 10 months of the current fiscal year, through August.

Christine Waugh, CBP's area port director for Washington, D.C., said in a statement that smugglers face severe consequences, including felony criminal charges, and that CBP will work with law enforcement partners to pursue them.

No court date for Wally has been announced. Residents can report suspected smuggling activity to CBP at 1-800-BE-ALERT (1-800-232-5378).