Authorities at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), Nairobi, seized 150 cartons of miraa that had been passed off as vegetables.

Officials said the cartons labelled "Fine Beans and Ravaya", contained french beans and eggplants but underneath, they were stashed with miraa.

The cargo was seized at the Airways Cargo Export section where it arrived aboard a vehicle and six suspects arrested.

The suspects are expected in court to face various charges. Export of miraa is banned from Kenya.

In 2013, The Netherlands, which was the then biggest foreign ="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/farmkenya/article/2001372656/farmers-oppose-sh300m-loan-plan">market The UK was also a major market for the stimulant before banning it in June 2014. Kenya used to export about 20 metric tonnes of miraa weekly.

The UK banned the imports saying it threatened to become the new smuggling route for khat into Europe, where 15 of the European Union’s 27 states and Norway had already listed the stimulant as an illegal narcotic.



The remaining major miraa market is Somalia, whose unstable ="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/farmkenya/news/article/2001383779/miraa-farmers-woes-take-centre-stage-as-meru-politicians-hit-campaign-trail">market Most of the miraa, which was being taken to UK is now being consumed locally, and earns farmers, transporters and others, significantly less money.

There have been fruitless efforts to unlock the ban. This has caused smuggling of the plant to various ="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/farmkenya/news/article/2001383549/cash-for-miraa-is-safe-meru-court-told">destinations miraa miraa miraa