Bengaluru: NCB busts massive khat smuggling ring worth ₹8cr

India Jan 01, 2026

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) just seized 160kg of banned khat leaves in Bengaluru—a haul valued at ₹8 crore and the biggest ever in Karnataka.
Khat, a psychotropic plant outlawed in India since 2018, was being trafficked by a global syndicate operating across more than 20 countries, including India, Ethiopia, and Kenya.

How the syndicate pulled it off

The group disguised khat as tea and shipped over 550 parcels—nearly 2,100kg—using postal and courier services to places like North America, Europe, and the Middle East.
In Bengaluru, they set up storage hubs run by foreign nationals on student and medical visas with help from locals.
The NCB has now shared parcel details with international agencies as their investigation into this network continues.