Sherif Kadir Sirage to remain on release pending charges of importing a controlled substance.
Sirage, along with Patrick Bahati, was accused of importing more than 400 pounds of khat, a flowering evergreen shrub that is chewed like tobacco in East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Khat is considered a narcotic and is illegal in the U.S. as well as part of Europe, East Africa and Arabian Peninsula.
According to charging documents, Bahati and Sirage arranged to have boxes of the narcotic flown to Salt Lake City by claiming they were spices.
During Sirage's appearance in federal court, prosecutors said they were concerned that Sirage had not been employed for the past five years and that he had a Utah driver's license under an alias.
An attorney for Sirage said he had been offered a job at the "African restaurant" at 1800 S. Redwood Road and that a friend had offered for him to stay at his home pending the charges.
Judge Brooke Wells allowed Sirage to be released but warned him that he was not to be around anyone who uses or possesses khat. He was also ordered to surrender his passport and told not to leave the state of Utah without prior permission. He will also be placed under electronic monitoring.
Bahati, who has a history of arrests, has been placed on a federal immigration hold and remains in custody.
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