23 Feb 2012

Somali militants target addicts in UK's 'khat cafes'

 

Turn down any rundown street in any one of the "mini-Mogadishus" that now pepper Britain's cities, and you'll see young men congregating outside what look like shuttered shop fronts. But look closer. There are no signs and no distinguishing features to help those who don't know what lies on the other side of these battered doorways. The chances are you will have stumbled over a marfish -- the cafes British Somalis come to chew the vegetable stimulant, khat. Although khat is legal in the UK, marfishes are closed off to outsiders. One marfish we attempted to enter had a surveillance camera overlooking the locked doorway -- we were repeatedly refused entry.

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